Innocent's Violence
by Kimra
Summary: [COMPLETE] Alt reality. Usaig and her four friends are vampires, but nobody knows how they came to be, or what makes them so special.
1. Prologue

**Innocent's Violence**

By Kimra

**Prologue**

She twisted on the spot, her eyes followed her prey with the ease of practice. Her breaths where short and inconsistent when she drew them in. Her soft red tongue sweeping out to wet the corner of her mouth as her ears listened for the possible interruptions.

"Waiting for something, Usagi?" Her friends bitting voice demanded from above.

Her head slanted up, eyes sliding along the mossy surface to meet the deep violet eyes of the girl she would at times consider calling her best friend, but that was only at times. "You take away my fun Raymond." Usagi snapped with animosity. Her friend's eyes darkened another degree with rage.

"I've told yo-" The hissing girls began, but Usagi disappeared down the alley after her prey knowing it would irritate the girl more.

Her feet took her silently and swiftly down the silent maze of alleys, her body no longer in the mood for a hunt, to perturbed to care for stalking anyone even the little minx her friends had brought her for dinner.

"Come out little kitty." Usagi managed half heartedly when she came to a juncture in the alleyway. She ran her tongue over cracked lips eyeing each direction with boredom but a mild interest. Her mind tried to make it more interesting for her, trying to make it a matter of deduction. It whispered in game show tones "Which way lies dinner? Would it have gone left where the path gets cleaner and looks more secure, or would it have gone right where lights dot the distance, promising civilisation?" But even the stupid comical voice her overboard mind made for her didn't help.

"Come out little kitty." She muttered once more, and did a half spin on her left foot, her eyes fastening shut and lifting her nose to the air. The sudden invasion of night air as she took a deep breath tickled her senses, the tinge of wet stones, and rotten garbage where pushed aside as she searched a little deeper. The musky sent of a dog, old blood, whisky, and the acid smell of vomit set aside as common. Then woven finely into the damp night air, the brief sent of fear. It wasn't an uncommon scent in the night air of the city, especially in the dark alleys that wove through the skyscrapers, but the fear was fresh, and it was tinged with the smells she had already caught off the girl, straw, powder and roses. It was an innocent smell, and any other night she would have enjoyed the hunt.

With slow and deliberate movements she turned to the right and began a casual stroll through the dark passage. Twenty pace's in she turned to the girl huddled into the darkness behind a dumpster.

"Don't worry." Usagi whispered catching the girls blue eyes, noting only briefly they where of the lightest shade, perfect for complimenting her terrified expression. "I'm not in the mood for games tonight." Usagi reached in for the girl and a timid hand slipped into her own. She sighed at the contact, a little disappointed, but drew the girl up to her anyway. "Now." Usagi whispered, her lips falling to the girls neck where they rested against the main artery, feeling the fluttering heartbeat like butterfly kisses teasing her lips. "I've a little job for you." She murmured before her mouth opened and smoothed over the soft neck, teeth piercing into flesh allowing the pulse of blood to fill her mouth before she drank it down.

It wasn't until she began suckling the wounds that the girl tight in her arm began to struggle, but by then she already had what she wanted, and the few grains of hope the girl might have held at the beginning where swept away without a thought. Slowly the girl in her grip drooped with weakness, and Usagi followed the movement of the victims body, laying her to the ground, still drawing every drop of blood she could from the small body beneath her until no more came.

Then weakly she stood, disregarding the body as she stumbled up the alley, ready to return to her friends. Her stomach clamped down as the blood traced it's way around her internal organs. Her body trembling with disgust, but although it confused her, she knew the feeling wasn't from the kill.

* * * * *

From above the alley four figures watched the slaughter, heads tilted with analytical curiosity.

None of them noticed the man standing behind them until he spoke. "Well?"

They all turned towards the man leisurely, each of their minds reaching for the others instinctively. Their reaction's where concealed behind the identical looks of curiosity they had turned to the killer below them.

Slowly one stood, sweeping her brown hair back and glanced over her shoulder at the alley again.

"I don't like it." Her voice was blunt her green eyes shinning with determination.

"She shouldn't be reacting like that." The second spoke, blue-black hair falling across concerned blue eyes. The two speakers turned to the silent ones curiously.

'Raymond' or Rei as she was actually known to be called turned and stared down into the alley while the others waited silently.

"There is something disturbing her. But I can't see what it is." She admitted disheartened.

"Is that why you set her into a mood, Rei?" The brown haired girl jibbed looking agitated. Rei's expression shifted into uncaring as she flipped her hair back behind her shoulder. "We wanted to see if she reacted well with a proper hunt." The girl continued to berate.

"Can it Makoto." Rei warned frowning down at the alley. "She wasn't in the mood for it before I got there. When she's in the mood for it not even I can bring her down." An exasperated sigh escaped Rei's purple tinged lips as she continued to frown down at the alley as if it would surrender to her anger and answer all her questions, if she just scared it enough.

"And you Minako? What do you think?" The man asked and all eyes where back on him. Distrust streaked the expressions turned on him, but he ignored it. Only the blonde who had not spared a glance at the alley did not watch him with distrust.

"It's why I called you." She whispered, looking fragile and weak, although the others knew it was rarely the case. A smile split across his lips and he looked at the other three girls who watched his expression with curiosity.

"She need's a mate." He told them, voice patronizing, as he brushed white hair behind his ear. He counted the seconds it took for comprehension to take place. Their expressions almost priceless, and entirely worth his visit.

He would admit he had thought Minako to be losing her sense's but even he couldn't deny what he had seen that night.

"But!" The blue haired girl began then stopped, not sure where to take the outburst. Her friends where not so uncertain.

"She's too young!" Rei shouted, her fists beginning to curl, and he turned to face Minako more, aware of the anger the insult would summon in the black haired girl.

"At least a hundred!" Makoto shouted, looking rather confused. "You said we wouldn't have to worry until we were at least a hundred!" Her hands where firm on her hips.

Well formed hips, he noted absently and his eyes skipped over the other three girls before him. The blue haired girl, Ami, was perhaps the youngest looking of the four, but she too seemed like she was maturing faster then predicted.

He still didn't know who made them, or where they had come from, but he did know when they had appeared and they had been newborns that day. It had been three years ago and that scared him. Three years as vampires and they where nearing a stage that usually did not approach until they where well into their hundredth year. It meant they were not ready, none of them, physically he was sure they where ready, but they had not adapted entirely to their lives as vampires. They had not had a chance to grow into the slight powers his kind was renowned for, the strength, the night vision, the heightened senses.

He tilted his head and walked past the girls, looking down into the alley with a frown. The kind of senses that would tell you which path the prey had travelled. His head tilted to the other side recalling the empty hunt. Yes, he could remember the girl-woman, stopping to sniff the air, he hadn't thought anything into it. Some newborns did that for show, but then she had known exactly where the girl was when she had passed her.

"She need's a mate." He restated, aware of the girls argument's continuing behind him. He was frowning though, three years and she was ready to mate, and even with the physical capability's, even with the skills acquired as a vampire, there was something that only time could do for the newborns. The girl, Usagi, she was dangerous, and her friends, loyal and protective. They had been the ones to ask for help, not her.

"Not you!" One of them gasped suddenly and he turned a cool smile to her, amused by the idea but not even the possibility of infuriating the four girls behind him would make him tempt fate in such a way.

"Not me." He reassured them, his eyes catching a sudden jerk of movement in the alley. His head turned to fix on the spot and found the vampires victim crawling along the pavement, dragging flesh against concrete, and he was sure doing herself damage. "Don't tell her." He warned, his attention riveted on the crawling girl, he could detect the clammy white of her skin, the feeling of lifelessness that came from her and he was more worried. "She has to come to us."

"No!" Makoto shouted suddenly, jumping at him with a surprising amount of strength which he didn't even need to put aside as another sign she was maturing, he could smell it on her now that he was thinking about it. That standing before him where four well primed, although young, vampires, all on the edges of the mating needs, was extremely distracting. He managed to dodge what he noticed would have been a fatal hit, the blow would not have killed him, but the fall directly behind him would.

"She doesn't go anywhere near that side of town!" Rei shouted venomously.

"It's not safe." Ami interjected, and he saw fire in her eyes. Perhaps she was calm and controlled, but he could see a weak spot when it presented itself.

"Very well." He laughed. "Lock her up until you're all in heat. I bet she wont survive a month." He glanced at their bodies wondering if they would, but decided against worrying about it. He needed to move, he knew it as any other of his kind would. He was being a little too overwhelmed in the presence of the four girls, and he needed to follow the dead girl.

Then with a mock bow he jumped neatly onto a fire escape and made his retreat, his attention immediately focusing on Usagi's new little pet. He was impressed once more, though impression did not overpower his fear. She shouldn't have been able to do it, giving a semblance of life to the dead was an exceedingly difficult task, and she had done it beneath his eyes without his noticing.

Too many question's tumbled through his head as he caught up with the automaton. And he took his frustration out on the girls body, glad for some relief as he threw her against the wall, ripping into her flesh with curved nails and meticulously pulled her apart. His only disappointment when there was little semblance left to the corpse before him was that there had been no blood to make the assault more enjoyable.

He flicked pieces of flesh out from below his nails and began the journey home, sorting through potential mates for the five girls.


	2. Part One

**Innocent's Violence**

By Kimra

**Part 1**

"Mamoru-baka!" Where the words that rang through the noisy arcade, resonating off game screens and glass windows with clarity. There was an immediate pause as the patrons of the establishment all turned to glance at the screeches source then returned to their daily rituals. Those more curious party's who had witnessed the spectacle many times before watched on cautiously with bated breath.

What they watched was a petite girl, seething up at the much taller man, her checks red, her glare hateful. And all the while the man looked down at her, one eye brow cocked a smirk playing at his lips.

"Odango Atama." He replied smoothly, his voice although not as loud as the young girls equally audible to those straining to hear. A fit of spluttering ensued from the small girl, her checks still red, but her eyes becoming deadly. It was a look those who watched had seen before, a look they would never tempt, but the man remained undeterred, seemingly unaffected.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" She demanded, fist's planting on her hips. "My name is Usagi! Usagi! Can you wrap your little college brain around that or am I talking to fast for you Mr. Chiba?" She glared at him pointedly, and his expression went blank for a moment. Breath's throughout the arcade where held.

"I know your name." He murmured in reply, and the onlookers had to strain. He smiled then, a little to charmingly and just before he began to speak it slipped back into mocking. "Odan-" The sound of his voice was washed away under the power of the scream the small girl gave out. The man looked a little repentant as he clasped at his abused ear drums and glared down at her in an attempt to tell her to shut up. But her little eyes where clenched shut, her hands fisted, the knuckles straining white as the sound continued to push from the depths of her throat.

Then abruptly the noise stopped.

Shaky hands released ear's tentatively, those who had not been interested risking a glance to see a tall brown haired girl holding the little blonde's mouth firmly closed, giving a scolding look at the suddenly meek screecher. A lot of the arcade groaned as they tried to restore hearing, their attention swivelling away once more.

* * * * *

Usagi felt the hand tight over her mouth, holding her breath and voice in with vice like strength. She mumbled something against the palm that did not appear to be willing to move. She tried to order Makoto to release her but again it came out as mumbles. Her eyes flicked to glare at Mamoru who looked positively delighted with her predicament. He lent down, blue eyes twinkling with sparks of mischief.

Her blood boiled at his expression, her nails digging into her own delicate palms as she fought to suppress the feelings ragging within her.

"Cat got your tongue, Odango?" He teased quickly before straightening. "Motoki." He nodded his head at the man behind the counter then, with a bounce in his step, left the arcade.

It was several long minutes of tense silence before Makoto unclamped her hand. Immediately the blond spun on her heel glaring.

"What was that for?" Usagi hissed in a deadly whisper, her eyes more midnight then midday enforcing her displeasure as they glared at the tall girl. Makoto gave a sheepish smile, unperturbed.

"Oh please, if she hadn't shut you up you would have ruptured all our ear drums." Rei's slick voice retorted from across the arcade.

Usagi looked over at the table from which Rei glared, her eye's narrowing at the picture her friends made. Ami had her nose deep in a book, her eyes just over its rim keeping check on the not uncommon situation, Minako was lazily twisting a straw between her fingers, her expression nothing short of bored, and Rei continued to glare a warning that had nothing to do with words spoken. Usagi's teeth gnawed at the inside of her cheek pushing murderous feelings into the recess of her mind and stalked over to them. Makoto a step behind her slid into the booth.

"So Usa, how was detention today?" Rei baited, her lash's lowered to hide their expression but Usagi knew the smug look Rei wore better then anyone.

The temper Usagi had reined in seconds before burst though her restraint. Her nostril's flared with life, long nails dug into the sensitive flesh of her palms once more, while her mind played out a death for her friend with disturbing clarity. Her body trembling with the need to enact the death scene, to kill the sultry bitch who's violet eyes mocked her.

There was a thump, and Usagi's eyes jumped from Rei to the thick book on the arcade table. For a moment she contemplated it, then looked up to find Ami's startled eyes staring into her with fear. Usagi looked away from Ami only to find her other three friends watching her with the same expression.

"Gotta go." Her voice shook as she dashed from the arcade.

* * * * *

They waited until Usagi had left their sight before all four girls turned to each other. Minds brushing against each other for comfort from their shock.

Minako could see Rei was the most shaken, and perhaps she too would have been, had those undeniable emotions been levelled at her. A shiver ran down Minako's spine, and from across the table Ami caught her hand, giving it a quick squeeze. The blue haired girls eyes betrayed her emotions to be akin to Minako's, shock and fear mixed equally well and put them as close to panic as they had been since that first night so long ago.

There was silence about the table as they all tried to think. "I'm just worried about her." Minako told Ami carefully a small smile on her lips to try and calm the others. It didn't need to be said, as shock began to subside for them all worry began to emerge.

"So close to mating, so many things could go wrong." Makoto whispered, her eyes where glazed a few of her emotions hidden from the group, but the worry was undeniable.

Rei stiffened at Makoto's words, her eyes bright with determination. "Well they wont. Because we're not going to let them hurt her."

"What choice do we have? Shit. We're not even allowed to tell her!" Makoto's hand stuck the table with ferocity, her green eyes rebellious and deadly.

"I think we should." Ami voiced sharply, her eyes piercing although her finger traced ideal patterns on her text book cover.

"What if his right though? What if it's bad for her?" Rei demanded her fiery voice, her eyes glassy with what they all knew where unshed tears.

"How can it be bad for her?" Ami begged, her voice soft as she stared at Rei.

"I don't know! How am I supposed to know? I'm as new to this as you all are. But, what if it hurts her, or interrupts something important if we tell her?" Rei bit out, looking dejected and forlorn.

Ami's fingers curled around the edges of her text book, suppressing guilt for questioning her hot tempered friend. "We just have to watch her. Keep her away from them." Ami suggested tentatively. She wanted to tell, but there was logic to Rei's words, and she could do anything but ignore logic.

"We can't." Rei admitted, and any pretence of happiness left her expression. Her posture slumped the tense grip of her hand releasing and tears began to escape her control. They all knew it was true, especially when they considered Usagi's reaction to a common insult. She was becoming more unpredictable, more agitated, it was only a matter of time before it all unravelled one way or another.

Then from the corner Minako spoke. "When she goes, I'm going to." It was a bland statement, the yellow haired girls eyes focused and her emotion of unwavering certainty flooding the link.

"So am I." Makoto snapped in agreement.

"But we're not ready. For all we know it could take us another ninety-seven years before we need a mate." Ami whispered.

"I don't care, she's not going on her own. We belong with each other, to look after each other, all five of us. And I'm not going to forget that because they say it's not how things work. Ready or not she wont be a step in their territory without me by her side." Minako looked up to meet three other sets of determined eyes, the agreement resonating through their link.

* * * * *

Usagi pulled it all in again, the anger, the rage. She wasn't used to these emotions ruling her life. She would kill, when she fed, but she had never felt anything so close to the venom that flooded her while doing that. It felt raw, a need to kill for no reason but to see death, and she had focused that on Rei.

"Gods." She whispered her body trembling with a fear she felt for nothing but herself. They had all felt it too, her friends, her sisters, more kin then kin had ever been. They had felt the blood lust, the need to destroy, and focused so absolutely on one of their own.

It wouldn't have happened, if her emotions hadn't just been stirred up by the Baka.

The Baka. God's she wanted to kill him, every time they met the urge intensified. She had said it once to her friends, tried to pass it off as a random statement, that she'd love to kill him, the reaction had been catastrophic.

She had never seen her friends react so violently to her words. Minako had instantly forbade her entrance to the arcade, Makoto became her shadow overnight, and Rei took the other approach and latched herself onto Mamoru. Ami had been the one to set her aside and re-state the rule's. It had irked Usagi to no end that they turned on her for him, that they where protecting him, and she had given the pretence of surrendering the notion of killing him.

But it never went away. And recently the feeling had come close to overwhelming.

She grumbled and stubbed her toe into the dirt below her, eyes skimming over the serene water to the red hue or a fading sunset. Her mood was far from good, her body angry and unsettled.

It didn't help that her message had gone astray somewhere the week before. Nothing should have prevented it from reaching them, but it had never returned, and neither had they come. It frustrated her that so much effort had been put into it and the task had been fruitless.

Her crystal blue eyes moved back up to the sky, noticing the dark tinge that was pushing the red and pinks back, and the second part of her resounded with a thrill at the sight. Her tongue moved out and wet her lower lip, eyes fixed on a sight she had no right to see. But they where different, the five of them, and it was their secret.

With a sigh Usagi turned from the image, feeling more calm, but not at peace. Her feet took her home, she needed to change, tonight she would try again.

* * * * *

She choose a man this time, tall, well muscled and all together brutish in nature. Usagi was usually quite finicky when it came to her diet, but staring at him, she knew he would taste as unsettling and wrong as every other kill she had made over the last three months.

She tried to play with him, like Minako would, her small frame and perfect blue eyes making her look like a weak victim ready to be attacked. But as he threw her up against a wall, a knife to her throat she still felt disinterested.

His dark eyes betrayed thoughts beyond mugging, his rough hands too busy holding her up, and securing the knife to do any real damage. Usagi sighed trying to make herself enjoy the knowledge that he had no chance, that she was going to kill him before he even managed to mutter a threat to keep her quiet. Her head lulled, smacking the bricks behind her as he growled something under his rotten breath at her.

It wasn't that dark, only an hour after sun set, but the moon hadn't made an appearance, and their where no clouds in the sky. So the setting was over dramatic. A dark alley, leading off from a rough house pub, the smell of urine and beer overwhelmingly powerful in the air. And blood, there was always blood. And it held absolutely no interest for her.

Her body jarred against the brick wall a second time and she frowned down at the man before her.

"Watch it." She warned with a tiny frown. Her voice must have been darker then she meant because he looked a little startled. Minako would have loved it, seeing the big burly man and that tinge of fear in his eyes for the weak helpless victim. With a groan of frustration, ignoring the blade still pressing in against her neck Usagi's head thumped against the mans shoulder. "This just isn't working." She told him gruffly, surrendering any chance of enjoyment in the moment.

Her hands immediately found his shoulders bracing herself, and raising above him, then her mouth descended on his throat. He tasted bitter and old, the years of excessive alcohol having caused his organs to deteriorate and the blood to taste unfiltered. There was the slightest mix of heroin in the stream, but it was from days before so she ignored it. Her body tried to rebel against the taste and she forced queasiness down, she needed a man this time maybe it was because she had chosen a girl last time that the message had failed.

She felt muscles beneath her fingers relax, the blade clattering to the floor, as his arms fell limp by his sides.

She kept draining, taking in every breath of life he had left in him, and her mind averted from the kill, focusing instead on the message she needed conveyed. He shuddered and fell against her, jarring her body into the bricks for the third time, but she paid not heed, her grip unrelenting her mind focused.

And then it was done, she felt it like a light been turned on, and she snapped her mouth from him breathing in fresh air. Knees that had clamped onto his waist to keep him still released and she lowered her legs to the ground. Supporting his weight until she had moved from beneath him she pushed back feelings of illness and released him, letting his head hit the wall with a sickening thud, then his body crumble to the floor.

She slunk into the shadows of the lane, eyes fixed on him as she waited. She would follow this time, to the edge of the territory's, no further. She would make sure that it survived that far at least to deliver her message.

* * * * *

Eyes dark as night, yet piercing the shadows like a blade of silver fixed on one target. When had she stopped? She wasn't entirely sure, she could say where because her eyes watched the flittering arcade front patiently. Waiting for her prey.

It had been somewhere between the pub ally and the territory boarders that her body had won it's fight to be sick, vomiting blood across the street, and leaving a mark that would make anybody think murder had been committed there. Somewhere between the blood riddled street and the arcade that she had vaguely thought of him. In her spiteful anger it had been a passing thought, the thought that his blood wouldn't make her sick. And then all pretences of caring where set aside, she wanted to feel good that night, to get the sick feeling away from her, and if his blood was the only blood that would do it she didn't care.

She was motionless with anticipation. Her friends would kill her. But the quickened pulse and tense muscles pushed adrenaline through her body in the way hunts always had before. It was an intoxicating feeling that removed her doubts, expelled worries and left her certain of her actions.

He was in there, she knew it, she didn't even go in to check she waited across the street. But even from there she could smell his tantalizing blood, blood that had been flaunted before her for such a long time and she had left alone. Her breath's quickened in further anticipation, watching as patrons left the arcade and the numbers of occupants slowly dwindled. It was a fight to not storm in there and drain him before everyone, but it was a fight she won. Even without trying she could feel the link of her friends, and she would not endanger them with that much recklessness. If she was careful they wouldn't even know of it.

Her attention snapped as a body clad in black and green came through the electronic doors, his attention still inside as he gave a quick wave to someone. She assumed Motoki but that was all she thought as her feet moved to follow him.


	3. Part Two

**Innocent's Violence**

By Kimra

**Part 2**

Footfalls where silent as she moved. Her body tense but smooth as she continued to stalk. She kept him a hundred meters before her always, not yet breaching the distance, although a few quick strides and he would be hers. Emotions coursed through her, emotions she had not been able to feel for a long time. But she could not name half of them as she followed him around another corner.

His pace slowed to a casual stroll, so did hers. The distance between them unchanged.

She took a strange step, her foot sliding subtly out beneath her and she saw his broad back stiffen a near imperceptible fraction. Her breath held in silence, her tongue wetting dry lips, muscles tense and ready to pounce. She wanted him to notice her so the final end of the game could be played. She hadn't waited this long to kill him to let it happen quickly either, the stalking felt as appealing as his death would.

His head shifted to the side for a second, eye's closed and she made sure she was not drawing in breaths. Ever so slowly he began again, his feet moving at an odd rhythm she did not try to replicate. She knew these game's well enough, although stalking college boys was more in Rei's expertise she knew the games of this kind of hunt well enough. After five minutes of walking at a quickened pace he stoped, abruptly.

Her silent feet continued, her mind tossing the value of giving him those deliberate clumsy steps that would signify he was being followed. Her pause fluttered at the thought of his fear, something the Usagi had always been revealed in. But he was not so weak as to be afraid to easily, and she was almost curious to see how he would respond to danger.

A smirk played on her lips at the thought, and she decided the stalking had taken long enough, it was time to take this game to the next level. She heavied her foot falls until they where audible, and began to breach the distance between them with small deliberate steps.

He turned quickly unexpectedly, his hand sliding between his jacket and chest. Reaching for something. His expression was solemn, his eyes sharp and predatory, and a thin smirk rested on his lips until he noticed her and all at once the predatory gleam in his eyes vanished.

Something rose in her at the expression, something odd and excitable. She had never thought there would be more to him then his common demeanour suggested, but his response had been prepared. It had spoken of bravery and secrets, of things not associated with him.

A frown pulled at his handsome face, his expression becoming mocking. "Isn't it a bit late to be out Odango?"

A smile slipped onto her lips at the name, he would never call her that again. The knowledge was delicious and again the anticipation for his blood pummelled her senses. "The arcade just closed." She replied casually, suppressing the torrent of excitement.

His head titled his eyes grazing her form. "It's kind of late though." He replied, the frown pulling his brows together.

Her hands moved to her hips, her head lulling to her left shoulder as her right brow rose. "Not by my standards."

"Won't your parents be worried?" His frown faded and the mocking smile came back, but it stirred no anger in her.

"No. They wont." She whispered in reply. There was something tranquil about the scene as it unfolded between them that made everything feel like it was a half dream, a moment encased in fog although there was none.

His hands slid into black pant pockets, his eyes focused entirely on her. "Where you following me before?" A teasing note entered his voice and she rose to it, as always, breaking from the odd sensations the encounter stirred.

"Like I'd follow you Mamoru-baka!" Her nose shifted into the air, forgetting about blood and killings.

"I don't know." He teased wearily, his posture shifting into casual indifference. She hadn't even noticed he was anything but calm. "It's the sort of thing you'd do." He continued. "Like that day I spent with Rei." His eyes flashed with mischief, hers with anger.

"I was not following you!" She shouted, the sound resonating through near alleys and across the street. She stamped her foot indignant and her eyes travelled their surroundings. "Where are we?" She asked suddenly, all anger disappeared as she stared at the nearby buildings. The tantalizing thrall of his blood had left her little time to think on anything else.

"Are you lost?" He asked suddenly staring at her in disbelief. She ignored the mockery, eyes flashing across the street in search of a street sign.

"No seriously Mamoru." She warned, her voice void of emotion. "Where are we?" She turned to face him as she asked, ready to force the answer out of him.

"About three blocks from my apartment." He replied a frown marring his face once more. She suppressed a growl of impatience, and stared at him expectantly. "That street over there's the one you run your daily marathon on." He pointed over her shoulders and she turned following the direction of his finger to a cross road she did recognise.

A sign escaped her and she looked up at him with a silly grin across her face. "For a second there." She muttered, shaking her head as she allowed relief possess her tense body.

"I can't believe you don't know a street you pass every day." He teased once more, the serious tension having decapitated.

"I can't be expected to know every street in Tokyo." She snapped sharply, staring at him angrily. "Besides I hardly have time to look about and enjoy the scenery when I'm trying to outrun the school bell."

He gave a laugh at that, his posture once more relaxing, she supposed she had set him on edge with her own worry. Once his rich laughter died a soft silence settled over them, his eyes on her figure thinking, as she considered her own path of action. This moment, this time, was perhaps the first time she could not completely separate him from friends to foe. He had blended the line in the midst of his mockery, and she wasn't entirely sure how.

"I'll walk you home." He stated clearly, and her eyes jumped up to meet his. She saw no chance for argument and reminded herself she did not want to argue, this was a hunt. Something was protesting, and she tried to ignore it as she turned towards the familiar street, his presence by her side.

Mixed feelings played inside her, still anticipation, still fascination and heat, but there was a tinge of guilt that ate at her insides, a guilt for what was going to happen, because the closer he stood, the longer he remained the less she could fight the need. The less she wanted to fight.

They had not moved far, not far at all, when she caught his upper arm in a soft grip and gently tugged him into a back alley.

"We should stick to the main streets." He told her with hesitancy in his voice.

She shook her head and continued to pull gently. "This is a short cut, I know." Her breathing was quicker as she sent her sense's out, searching for human life that maybe around. This was a richer part of town, still urine still vomit, but weaker, cleaner, the smell tobacco and smoke more dominate in the air. And still there was blood. But there was not life.

"How is it you don't know the street, but you know the short cut?" Mamoru demanded his muscles tensing beneath her grip. She let her eyes close as her wrenched out of her hold, and with an odd feeling of despair turned around to face him.

"I guess I remembered." She replied, a step towards him and he took a step away. Her lips twitched in a half smile, the man was too perceptive.

"You really are a ditz you know." He snapped in reply, but there was something in his voice she was not used to hearing. Fear. It shuddered through her body with it's intensity, he, Mamoru, was afraid of her. That it was a justifiable fear did nothing to prevent the tightening of her chest.

"Don't be afraid of me." She whispered, stepped towards him once more. He went to move but she grasped at his arm fingers curling into soft flesh, pulling him to her small body. His eyes where large as they stared down at her.

"Usagi," He wet his lips, his breathing ragged "let me go."

"Not yet Mamoru." She whispered, her left hand sliding up around his neck, feeling his pulse beating rapidly against her wrist as fingers slipped into his hair. She had never suspected his hair would be soft, it had never occurred to her during their bickering that it would be soft.

Tear's slipped past her guard, and her head fell against his chest, trying to find comfort in the tense body before her. It didn't offer to bring her in and feed her reassurance but it was all she could do as she fought the confusion only he could conjure in her.

She breathed in his scent as his pulse continued to fluctuate against her wrist, enticing her to break any resolve and feed. Even through the soft smell of roses and cologne she could find his own blood. A nick of the skin while shaving, a paper cut, she didn't know where it was from, but at the proximity of their body's she couldn't help but smell it.

Resolves broke, tense uncertainty was shoved aside and she remembered why they where there, in a dark ally, late at night, alone. Her canines sharpened as her grip strengthened on him. He must have sensed it because he tried harder to remove himself from her hold. She gave no mercy and pushed him up against the alley wall, her body sliding in before his, pinning him with a strength he could not have suspected.

Her hand released his arm and caught his shoulder. He gripped her waist trying to push her away fruitlessly.

"Usagi." He warned again.

She raised her head from against his chest feeling his fear, and ignoring his attempts to remove her. Her left hand continued to stroke his hair.

"Shhh." She whispered into his ear, her lips pressing against the lobe then trailing down the column of his neck until they found his pulse beating wildly. She planted a soft kiss there, at the apex of his shoulder and base of his neck before sinking her teeth into tight muscles. Blood poured into his open mouth, and her lips sealed around the wound, capturing the hot flow. His fingers dug into her waist in response.

Thinking stoped.

Nothing mattered but the feel of him. The slick feel of his hot blood sliding down her throat. The relish as it moved through her system like oil. It was clean and pure untainted by illness or abuse. His fast pulse fed her with unexpected speed, pushing the elixir deep into her. She closed her mouth tighter over the wound drawing the blood up faster in her greed.

It tasted like something, something she knew and wanted to recognise, but nothing seemed to compare to the taste of his blood. Not even at the beginning when she'd first taken lives had one tasted so perfect. It was sweet and bitter, setting her body to life with it's presence within. It set the nerves at the ends of her fingers buzzing with life, her own pulse to quicken to overdrive. It made her body tremble with appreciation, her legs weak and her mind giddy.

Her fingers tightened into his shoulders, pressing into those tight muscles as they began to loosen. Mental she knew he was close to finished, the flow was slowing, but she kept demanding more. It wasn't enough, she needed more. There was something about him that was calling to her and tearing at her senses, and all she knew was that she couldn't stop taking him for anything.

"Usa…" He breathed his heart rate slow and fading. "Stop." Fingers that had fallen limp by her waist tightened and pushed ripping her teeth along his unmarred neck flesh. Her mind reeled with the shock of disconnection as she was thrown to the other side of the alley.

Blood dripped through her hair, red dew drops on golden silk. Her breathing was ragged, her hands trembling with the aftermath of adrenaline. Her pink tongue dipped out, collecting the trickle of blood that had escaped her soft mouth. Her eyes travelled up slowly, one shaky hand brushing back rampant strands of fringe to clear her vision only to have them fall back in her way. They met his near-grey eyes memories of his hot blood on her tongue taunting her eyes to his neck. Blood pushed through the gaps between his fingers, spilling to the floor in a tragic waste. Her stomach clenched, her hands too. Eyes following the flow of red with unwavering intensity.

She could not think beyond the images of licking every drop off his hands. Savouring the bitter sweet feel as it slid down her accepting throat, the slight metallic tang, the warm smoothness. She wanted to drown in the flavour of his blood, it had been sweet and heady, filled with power and something far more elusive.

She tried to struggle to her feet, tried to gain some form of ground against him, wanting more of him but her feet refused commands and she realised as her body shut down the slick feel of his blood was overwhelming her.

She was unconscious before her body struck the ground.


	4. Part Three

**Innocent's Violence**

By Kimra

**Part 3**

A rhythm of sickening thuds filled the antechamber, and drifted through solid wood to the throne room.

Dimando looked up casually at the doors, mildly interested by the noise. When the scent of death struck him he did nothing to hide his curiosity. Nor did the other members of his court as they became aware of the noise and smell. But he was certain as the doors flew open that more then half of his council was surprised by the intrusion.

"What can we do for you?" Dimando asked the creature casually, his eyes moving over it to quickly asses it's purpose. It was undead, and it was fresh, less then a day old because their where no signs of decay. And it certainly wasn't hostile which was always surprising, his guards at it's sides where ignored.

"A message." It hissed with a breath of air.

Dimando raised an eyebrow looking the creature over for extra clues. "For whom?" He made a motion and his guards stepped back from the creature. It stumbled forwards again, it's limbs heavy and weak.

"He who rules."

Dimando leant forwards on his throne, mocking the creature with his expression but it remained unaffected. "Very well." He stated and waved a hand at it, waiting to hear this 'message'. He was slightly amused that the lug of a creature had gotten past his sentry's without any warning being given, especially considering it's size.

"Alone." It growled, in warning.

Dimando's brow's rose at the order and he stared at the creature incredulously. "I don't talk to ghoul's especially alone." He tried to make himself sound condescending, but realised it was pointless against these types of creatures, they had less brains then a pet.

"A message." It repeated, drawing him from his thoughts.

"From who?" He growled in reply, not appreciating the interruption, or the ghoul's stubbornness, usually they didn't care who they told their messages to.

"A woman."

"Which one?" Dimando growled in reply his impatience rising.

"Usagi Tsukino." It hissed once more.

Dimando's eye brow rose again as he stared at the creature. His thoughts moving quickly through the information. It had been a week since he had destroyed her little toy, and he had never really stopped to think about it's purpose. He had been far to frustrated to think beyond it's demise but it seemed it had been going to see him anyway. A smirk played across his lips, the Tsukino girl was trying to go around the rules. "Indeed." He quipped at the creature his expression darkening.

* * * * *

The bedside light shone across her face, lighting her angelic features and leaving Mamoru a little uncertain. He watched her from across the room, carefully keeping the distance between them greater then the chains length. Her hair tumbled about her, covering delicate features and hiding malicious intent.

"Usagi." Mamoru called quietly, squatting his lean frame parallel to her. He loathed to wake her from her obvious serenity but had little choice. "Usagi." He called again, louder, his muscles tenser. The louder he was when she woke the more violent he knew the response would be. Her body shifted eyes fluttering open in vague awareness. His heart beat strangely at the image she made, waking on his bedroom floor. "Usagi." He repeated softly and tired blue eyes travelled across the room to meet his gaze.

She blinked once or twice, bordering on consciousness though not awareness.

"What time is it?" She mumbled her nose scrunching.

"Usagi." He repeated when her attention shifted to the plush carpet. "Are you listening?" She nodded in reply her attention still on the floor. "Where do you need to be?" She made a noise of thoughtfulness but her eyes didn't move from the carpet and the lids slowly began to close again.

"Asleep." She mumbled her body began to relax into sleep once more.

"Usagi!" He half shouted in frustration, keeping her in a good mood was all fine, but he needed her wake. "Where do you have to be to survive the day?" He growled, and saw her eyes open, once more facing him.

"Wha'?" She stared at him blankly, taking great effort to translate his words. "Errr…. School?" And even a she said the word her eyes lit up with realisation. "Oh my god!" Her pose changed but there was nothing in her expression that removed her from the naïve school girl he spared with daily. "Miss Haruna's gonna kill me!" She covered her mouth in horror the chains rattling with the jerky movements.

It hadn't been what he'd meant. He had been deliberating over the pre-dawn hours over which of the many vampire mythology's where accurate and had been left with the inevitable conclusion that he had absolutely no idea.

His thoughts where cut off but the screeching girl. "You put me in chains?" He heard the chains rattle before he noticed her movements. Despite the knowledge that he was out of arms reach he skittled back as she lunged at him, nails sharp and ready to claw.

It took a moment, staring at her livid expression from his sprawled form on the floor before he caught his breath at the sudden outburst. He should have been expecting something like that.

He nodded his head at her once he was seated upright again, daring her to try and pry words from him. His heart was pounding quickly at the sudden fright her attack had caused. But he forced it to calm down, he needed his strength, he was still shaken from her attack hours before.

Mamoru shuddered at the remembrance of that moment, he had felt something different in the air, but it hadn't clicked and before he knew what was happening it had been over. He didn't know why she had fainted but he wasn't one to second question luck and had been ready to leave. But he couldn't bring himself to leave her there, because the second she was unconscious she had reverted to the fragile school girl he knew. It had been a debate to take her home with him, even in his weakened state she had been light. And the chain's he hadn't been at all certain about them, but the thought of her draining his blood had been a strong incentive to restrain her.

As she glared at him, her eyes burning with hatred but still that amazing blue he realised it had been an excellent idea to put those chains on. He knew there would have been violence if she was unrestrained. Usagi as a school girl was dangerous enough to his health, Usagi as a vampire, he shuddered once more and pushed those thoughts away.

"Let me go you jerk, if I'm late for school-" She stopped mid sentence her eyes alerting on him and sliding down his features before they stopped. Automatically her tongue dipped out, drawing in the slightly dried blood that lingered on the edges of her lips. Reflexively his hand covered the bandaged wound of his neck, his body weary and prepared for another attack.

"Odango!" He snapped, and her attention returned to his face. "Where do you have to be to survive the day?" He repeated carefully. Her eyes darkened at him then a brighter expression overcame her features.

"Well I can't be in chains." She told him, holding her manacled wrists out to him expectantly. He raised an eyebrow at her incredulously.

"How stupid do you think I am Odango?" He demanded a little peeved by the response but trying to cover it with mocking. Her expression shifted into a pout and he felt himself go to frown. "Do you need to be in the earth?" He asked carefully, the little pout faded to a confused expression and he gave a sigh. "Buried, underground." He assumed even as he said it that it was obviously a no, else she would have known what he meant immediately.

Her expression shifted into disgust followed by a childish 'ewww' which he took as a definite no.

"Do you need to be in a crypt?" He tried again, sure she had tried to kill him earlier that night, but she seemed as stupid as usual which was something he wasn't in the mood to deal with.

"What?" She demanded looking horrified. "What kind of a weirdo are you?" She screeched causing him to wince.

"I don't know." He snapped and stood up glaring down at her disgusted expression. "What kind of a weirdo are you?" He growled before walking out of the room, letting the door slam behind him.

He paused out of the room and let out a sharp breath. Then carefully told himself it wasn't his concern if Odango died, after all he could guess what she was, although he would have been inclined the day before to say vampires didn't exist, so he knew that she was a killer. It nagged at him, trying to decide how long she had been a vampire, but he had seen her that day in the arcade, so maybe she was new to this. Maybe on her way home she had been attacked and turned. A feeling of guilt bit into him and he tried to tell himself it wasn't his duty to protect her. But then again, if it wasn't his duty he should have staked her or what ever it is that killed vampires in real life. After all, she had attacked him with the intent to kill and without his actions she would have succeeded.

He thumped his head against the wall in a bid to remove the thoughts coursing through his mind. He didn't need this, it was just another complication on top of all the others. He groaned, he needed sleep.

If she was dying being Odango he would probably hear about it, he would deal with it then.

* * * * *

"What would you say if I told you Usagi was a vampire?" Mamoru asked Motoki carefully, his finger ideally stirring his coffee. He had left her asleep on his bedroom floor, still chained, still alive and still splattered in his blood. Absently he realised she needed something else to wear but that was another problem for latter.

Behind the counter Motoki paused, his eyes fixed on Mamoru as he processed the question. The moment it filtered through he couldn't help but laugh, and the more he thought about it the harder he laughed.

Mamoru watched patiently, hiding his inner agitation, though he suspected if Motoki had asked him the same question the day before his response would have been similar.

Abruptly Motoki caught himself, wiped a stray tear from his eye and smiled teasingly at Mamoru. "I'd tell you to buy a string of garlic and carry it around with you, because your going to be on the top of her 'to kill' list." The smile cracked into a grin and Motoki's attempt at self restraint evaporated as his laughter remerged.

Mamoru decided not to bother paying Motoki any more attention as it would only be encouragement for several more bursts of laughter. There was no chance to make this a serious conversation, even though he wasn't sure if he wanted it to be. For some reason he wanted to keep Usagi's presence in his home a secret, at least until he decided what to do with her.

Blowing softly against his coffee Mamoru thought on Motoki's joking words and frowned a little. "You'd think so, wouldn't you?" He took a long sip of the coffee, cringing at the flavour and absently ran his tongue over his lips, trying to recapture he flavour. That thought floored him and he physically jerked to try and remove it.

He felt tiered and weak and his hands shook a little with the effort of rising his mug to his lips. She had done that, come close to killing him, and he had to keep reminding himself of it. As if he didn't have enough to worry about.

"What's the topic of discussion today boys?" A perky voice asked from behind Mamoru. He turned on his seat and caught a glance of Usagi's group before his attention was back on his coffee.

"Vampirism." Motoki responded jokingly. And Mamoru physically felt the air change around him. There was something tense in the air suddenly and he turned to glance at the four uncertain expressions.

"Yeah." He added thoughtfully, realising it was not a topic that should have been flaunted about. After all, what if one of them knew about Usagi's condition. "We where just trying to decide which of the mythologise where better."

Motoki looked puzzled. "No we-"

"Motoki." Memory interrupted, looking pointedly at his friend, then brought forwards a polite grin. "Perhaps the lady's want to order." It was a barely acknowledged command for silence that Motoki played out, all the while looking slightly grumpy. It took Mina's cheerful flirting to distract Motoki, and if Mamoru was lucky his friend would have forgotten the conversation had ever existed.

"Vampirism?" Rei asked as she took the seat beside his.

"Something like that." He gave a little shrug of his shoulders, and pretended to pay attention to his coffee. An angle of attack occurred to him and he put the coffee down and faced her. "You're a Shinto Priestess right?" She nodded her eyes colder then usual. "So you'd know about vampires?" He prodded and she titled her head a little.

"A little. Why the sudden curiosity?" She accepted the drink Motoki put before her before turning her violet eyes to Mamoru again. He noticed her brows draw together sharply and her eyes flick about his body thoughtfully.

"I don't know, it just occurred to me a couple weeks ago, that if vampires really existed you'd have a hard time trying to decide which of the mythology's to believe." He gave a vague shrug of his shoulders and threw the rest of the coffee down his throat. Her eyes continued to move about him, but he ignored it suspecting he wasn't meant to notice.

"There all wrong." She muttered, her frown increasing, and he noticed her nose twitch slightly. "I'm sorry." She stated sharply looking at him curiously. "But are you okay?"

His left brow rose at the question, feeling his neck tense up with a little wave of pain but didn't react to it. "I'm fine Rei. Why do you ask?" Her eyes continued to move over him then she seemed to catch herself offering him a bright smile.

"Can't I be worried about my friend?" She demanded in a tart voice. Before he could respond she had grabbed her drink and moved across the arcade to her friends. Mamoru forced himself not to stare at the four girls and forced his hand not to rub the side of his neck. He had a strange feeling that Rei hadn't been asking out of kind interest.

* * * * *

Usagi groaned, tilting her head into her small palms as she tried to focus her pounding head. The room was dark, a few strands of daylight filtering through the thick curtains. Her wrists where cold, her body warm, and the most delightful scent played in the air around her. None of it mattered though, her head was killing her. Another groan and she ground her fist between her eyebrows trying to remove the headache physically.

Memory came all at once, swift and overwhelming. And she knew. She needed it. Needed it again. Needed him. Her veins pounded with the need her body ready to claim. She felt alive with emotions and power. His blood pushing through the depths of her system, feeding her strength as she had never felt. And all of it left her body shaking, her mind reeling with alacrity, ready to relapse into unconsciousness from the overload of it's sensors.

It was all him, driving her to new levels of awareness, driving her to insanity.

Below her was a thick layer of carpet and she felt her body sagged slightly into it, the cold of metal about her wrists and the sound of every chink in the chain as it rattled, following her movements. Beyond his room she could hear talking, through the walls she assumed, and above and below her as well. There where people talking, but she couldn't make out their words. A tap was dripping slowly, tediously and out of rhythm, their was a breeze moving through the apartment and what might have been a radio turned down in the distance.

The slight sticky texture in patch's of her skin made her hold her arm before her. Her eyes alighted on specks of blood and she tried to ignore the notion their presence brought to mind. But after only a few seconds of ignoring it she found herself licking the excess blood off every surface she could find. It was old blood, but her body made no protests to the small intake.

* * * * *

She could tell when her entered the apartment, the scent of his blood infused in the air and she knew he was still bleeding from her attack. The click of a latch as a door opened and closed and the soft thuds of shoes and bags being degraded. Her pulse jumped into overdrive, as she listened to his soft movements.

The strange buzz of the fridge as it opened, and the shuffle of feet on tiles instead of carpet. She licked her lips, her eyes closing as she focused his movements. He moved from the tiled room, his feet almost silent against the plush carpet but she could hear them, and they where getting closer. Her hands fisted and released as the door clicked open and her eyes flew to him.

He entered the room without looking at her, his hand searching out the light switch, and instinctively she clenched here eyes shut. Artificial light flooded the room, and she blinked her eyes opened and closed a few times to regain focus. When her eyes decided to let her see she found him standing across the room from her, out of arm's reach, and watching her carefully.

"How was your day?" Mamoru's smooth didn't intrude of the gentle silence of his apartment as she had expected it to, and absently she smiled at him.

Realising her mistake as his eyebrow rose she scolded herself, the smile leaving to be replaced by a tight frown. "Well I failed my big Home Economics' test, and I think I had an English test as well, but I probably would have failed that anyway." Her expression darkened considerably. "And I've been chained to your bedroom floor all day. How do you think my day was?" The bitting tone of her voice didn't do much to effect him but he did frown.

"Well I've been trying to function with about half my blood missing." He snapped, looking angry. Usagi scoffed.

"I didn't take more then a third. Besides you're a big boy, you have plenty to share." Her eyes moved over his form and she realised he was shaking. Determinedly she looked him over, her eyes taking every detail she could. He was paler then usual, black rings under his eyes, and his expression was fixed with a small frown, indicating a headache. Unexpectedly guilt came to her.

She had done that, hurt him, made him less then he usually was. Unexplainably it pained her to see him so weak. Mamoru was usually cool and in control, immaculate and unaffected. She pushed those thoughts away focusing instead on his eyes. They remained unchanged, the same perfect blue they always where.

But he did not maintain eye contact, instead she threw something across the room at her. Instinctively she caught the object feeling it squish in her fingers her eyes jumped from him to her hand. Her hand flexed about the plastic testing it and it squished between her fingers. She gasped and dropped it, horrified and entertained at the same time. She stared however, transfixed by the red package.

"What's this?" Usagi fingered the packet tentatively. It felt like a joke shop gift, the kind that squished disgustingly in your grip but you couldn't help touching.

She gave a little giggle at the feeling and poked the item again, highly amused and extremely curious, she couldn't imagine Mamoru buying her novelty toys considering the past twenty-four hours.

"It's blood." His voice was stony, and her eyes jumped away from the package to him at the words, then back to the package. Now he had said it, she could see the colour was right, but it wasn't all that uncommon a colour. But as she focused on the item she could see it was a blood sachet, from a hospital or blood bank. She had seen them in movies before, she was certain of it.

"You brought me pre-processed blood?" She asked in disgust. That he had brought her anything skipped her mind entirely at that moment.

"What's the matter? It's blood, who cares if it's fresh or packaged?" He growled in reply, a strange disgust in his voice. She wasn't used to hearing such differing tones in his voice, it was usually straight out mocking.

"I'm a finicky eater Mamoru-" He snorted at that but she ignored it "I can't eat that crap!" She threw it back at him annoyed that he caught it instead of being struck by it, then casually threw it back between them.

"Well it's all your getting." He replied stonily and left the room.

The emptiness pulled at her as she watched the door, hoping he would return thought not certain why. Catching herself she turned to stare at the package before her, contemplating the merits of surrendering to the hunger that gnawed at her. She had eaten the night before certainly, but she had also used a lot of strength to create her messenger. Mamoru's blood, still in her body was sustaining her, but she had hardly gotten enough to keep her going for long.

Staring at the packaged blood her stomach clamped in disgusted, she could think about eating it, she couldn't imagine, especially after Mamoru no blood would ever taste the same now. Resolutely she grabbed the small packet and threw it across the room, and turned her back to it.

* * * * *

Mamoru stood, staring into his empty refrigerator as he contemplated what to do next. The sun had set several hours ago, and still he had not worked up the courage to re-enter his bedroom. Cold air played across his face, as he stared, not really looking for anything but unable to think of where else to move to.

From his bedroom came the first sounds of movement since he had returned home. He ignored the noise's and forced himself to actually pay attention to what he was doing. Abruptly he slammed the fridge shut, realising the last thing he was, was hungry.

She called something out, and he ignored it, leaning against the kitchen bench, his fingers curling over the hard marble but ideas eluded him and he was left with nothing but thoughts of what to do with her.

It was his name screamed out that made him jerk away from the bench the speed of his pulse doubling instantly. There was something primal about her voice that set him on edge and he was in the hallway before his door before he could register where he was going. He hesitated, reluctant to enter the room, to face her.

He wasn't thinking straight about her. Something about the sudden shift from whiny school girl to blood sucking vampire left him off balance. He had stolen blood for her, not even sure what had prompted that, but the thought of her dying was as worrying as the thought of releasing her.

"Mamoru! Please!" Her voice was pained, and without a chance for thought pushed into his room, uncertain of what to expect but sure he had never heard Usagi use a tone of such desperation.

When he opened the door he was shocked by what he found. Usagi had stretched the chains binding her to the wall taut, her wrists bleeding as she strained against confinement. He was frozen, staring at the frantic burning in her eyes as she continued to pull against her bindings. A low growl was coming from the depths of her throat and she didn't acknowledge his presence. Her eyes where fixed burningly on the small sachet of blood that lay beyond her reach.

He was across the room without thinking, trying to push her back to calm the pressure on her abused wrists, ready to try and fix the damage. Dark blood slipped around her wrists as he pushed her another inch back, the tension on the chain lessening. Her body submitted to the pressure moving backwards.

He thought it was going well until he felt her tense beneath his grip and automatically her hands had captured his shoulders yanking him to her. Mamoru jumped back, pushing against her to release him as he realised his fatal error. She tried to keep her grip, but he could tell even as her fingers tightened their hold that she was weak.

"Just a little. Just a little." She chanted trying to fight him down, pleading lacing her voice, but he was not that foolish.

"Usagi, let me go." He growled and with a fierce show of strength pushed her off him, then scurried across the room, out of her arm's reach. Before he could blink she had flung herself after him, the chains snapping at the sudden jerk and he wondered if they would stand much abuse. A small scream escaped her mouth as she strained against the manacles and he remembered why he had been so stupid.

Approaching her however had just been ruled out as an option, and he had was still dazed by his own stupidity. His hand fell to the floor as he tried to remember how to breath, his fingers coming across plastic. He glanced and found the blood he had given her. Blood the Odango in one of her tantrums had probably thrown out of her own reach. He groaned and threw it at her. His body hurt from that little spat, he could feel scratches she had caused, and the strength he had pushed away from her with had strained some of his muscles.

Usagi expression was triumphant, her greedy fingers closing over the sachet of blood, her teeth sinking into the plastic packaging and her mouth closing over it, sucking the blood out with relish. But he could feel her eyes on him as he shifted to sit properly, his eyes focused on the blood as she gulped it down. He could feel the power over gaze burning into him, her intent obvious and again his hand went to cover his bandaged neck.

She devoured the entire package with a speed to rival her milkshake drinking and continued to suck on the pack until every morsal was gone. Her expression scrunched up in disgust.

Mamoru groaned again his head lulling back on his shoulders, his head thunking against the cupboard door behind him as he stared up at the blank room.

Usagi made a sound similar to a cat dying and Mamoru looked up at her. Her expression was white, a small trail of blood seeping out of the corner of her mouth, her eyes a little frantic.

"What's wrong?" Mamoru asked suddenly, feeling the vibrations of illness in the air.

"I'm going to be sick." She said it in such a way that he believed her and immediately he was searching his pockets for the keys to her manacles. He pulled them out and moved across the room to her, she looked too distracted to attack.

Her lips were pressed in a thin line, her skin a pasty white and the trail of blood moving down her chin seemed to be getting thicker.

He unlocked the first wrist and she snapped that hand to cover her mouth. As quickly as he could, fumbling with the keys he unlocked the next wrist.

Without a word she pushed past him and ran across the corridor to his bathroom.

It took the sound of her vomiting to rousing him from his sudden state of confusion, she had looked fine a few seconds ago. Recovering himself he jumped to his feet and followed her to the bathroom.

For the second time that day he was met with a sight he was unprepared for. Blood speckled across his usually perfect white tiles. And Usagi was curled around the toilet bowl, her hair and clothes covered in dollops of blood, the toilet's water a thick red colour.

"Usagi?" He asked carefully, unsure if she was dying or if she was going to jump up and drain him. Though the last thing he thought of after throwing up was eating you could never tell with this girl.

She looked up at him from the floor her eyes huge and glazed over with tears. If she hadn't been covered in blood she would have looked fragile at that moment, and even despite the blood he found himself able to see it.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, and the tears broke from her hold, sliding down her checks, mixing with the blood and falling to the floor. Mamoru wet his lips, staring at her intently, his uncertainly made him stay away from her, until he trembling mouth caved and she began to sob. "I shouldn't have." She continued, her eyes falling from him.

Mamoru lost his battle to keep away from her and came to the floor beside her, brushing hair away from her face, and wiping blood and tears off with the edge of his sleeve.

"It's okay." He told her softly, stroking her hair back. "I'll clean it up, and we'll think of something else. Not packaged blood, I get that. I wont do that to you again." She collapsed against his chest her sobs slowly dying away. He stiffened at the contact even though his hands went about her, to support her. When her head raised up past his neck his eyes clenched tightly. Instead of the bit he expected her lips brushed up to his ear.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" She whispered, her voice weak and making his chest constrict with uncertainly. He wanted to reply but couldn't think of a reply to make. "I could kill you right now." She whispered again, her voice stronger a little warmer, and the breath against his neck made him shiver.

"I know." Was all he could breath in response, his arms still around her, still holding her.

Her head moved, her check brushing against his and she faced him, her eyes wide and awake and still so innocent that it hurt him to see their expression. "I wont." She swore and he believed her. At least he believed that she would try not to.

"I won't chain you. If you stay here." Mamoru replied his voice shaking, her breath played across his face, making him aware of their proximity. Despite the smell of blood in the air, or that this goddess had tried to kill him the night before he found himself disturbingly attracted to her. Unable to resist he pressed a chaste kiss to her lips and jumped to his feet, missing her expression of surprise. "Let's clean you up." He hastily began, as he reached out to help her too her feet, glad when she did not resist.


	5. Part Four

**Innocent's Violence**

By Kimra

**Part 4**

Something stirred within her, something she couldn't quite grasp as she stared at her neatly bandaged wrists. He had said something about studying medicine while he tended her wounds, but she had been unable to fully hear him. Her mind had been fiercely engaged in attempting self-restraint. He had been so close, and she had known again that she could kill him, taste the blood that was hidden from her by only the thin bandage coiled about his neck.

She had felt it before, she was sure, this feeling that overwhelmed her. Then it struck her.

Guilt. That was the feeling controlling her. But she couldn't understand why, she had killed before. Killed hundreds over the years, why did an emotion that had never shown itself before suddenly take up residence in her mind?

Maybe it had been his response, despite everything. He had been kind. He had taken her out of the bathroom and wrapped her in a blanket, setting her on his sofa and asking all the while if she was okay or if she needed anything. She had been in a daze at first. The scent of his blood, the feeling of sickness still in the depths of her stomach and that small chaste kiss he had given her all combined to throw her into complete disarray.

It had only been when he was certain she was okay that he disappeared from her sight and she had time to collate her thoughts a little. And in less time then she could imagine he had reappeared before her and helped her up, ignoring the blood that she kept smudging across his skin when contact was made. He had taken her back to the cleaned bathroom and directed her to the shower before latching her into the room alone.

She had done as he bid, washed the sickening blood off her, smelling tints of his own blood in the mixture but it only seemed to make the smell worse. So she had washed what two years ago would have been a decent if not brilliant meal down the drain and dried herself. A small neat pile of clothes had waited for her by the sink all oversized clothes she imagined belonged to him, but anything was better then the blood drenched dress she had been wearing.

And when she'd left the bathroom again he had tended the self inflicted wounds on her wrists and told her that she could have his room for now. So without a word of argument she had curled up in his bed under the thick covers and allowed exhaustion to lull her to sleep.

She hadn't thought about it that night, but when she had woken and hesitantly gone to seek him finding the apartment empty she had been granted the time she needed to think.

Now staring at her bandaged wrists she realised how right her friends had been when protecting him. Not protecting him as such, they had been protecting her from this feeling that welled within. All five of them had sworn very early on that they would take none they knew, they would kill none they met of a day, only those they met as vampires.

It was a form of disconnection they had to have, the distinct things that set them apart from humanity and vampire made them more susceptible to certain dangers. The danger of guilt it seemed to dominate suddenly on the list. The danger of knowing who you killed and not being able to control it. The danger of the night creatures discovering that they walked the day. The danger of the humans knowing they walked the night. The danger of becoming valued.

Usagi shuddered, her thoughts moving from guilt to her own problems. She had sent for him, the leader of the elders as dangerous as it had been she knew it was the only way to stop herself. The impulses that drove her, the vampiric needs that had never controlled her before had settled in and begun to climb. She couldn't talk to her sisters about this because she did not want to admit weakness to them, and she knew they would know as little as she. The decision had been two months in the working, and in the end it was not a choice, it had to stop before she lost control and only the elders would know what was happening to her.

She glanced out of the balcony doors at the bright sky and the part of her that was vampire shivered, the other part revelled in it's security. She was neither, human or vampire she was none, and it was her own stupid fault.

If she had been all vampire this guilt would not exist, this clutching feeling that told her no matter how good it felt she should not have feed off him, because he was human and alive and his life force sparkled with such an intensity that even as a human she had been able to see it. But god he had tasted good.

With a screech Usagi kicked the coffee table, throwing it across the room in one smooth move. Angry that she couldn't think of anything else, angry that his blood held such power over her and the guilt had just as much sway. She threw the lounge cushions as well, barely hearing the shattering glass as they collided with a vase. She threw everything in reach as far from her as she could, something else glass broke, a few things toppled, but she paid no heed as her body crumpled to the floor, her hands wrapping tightly around her stomach as it pulsed with the need for food.

And slowly she began the chant Rei had taught her, her lips moving through the words, careful to make each sound right to get each words out, and slowly her mind moved from it's occupation with him to oblivion.

* * * * *

Mamoru slid into the house with the ease of a panther, his sense's flaring out to detect any interruption that may come. His eyes flicked about the room and he paused hesitant to enter further. The room was sterile, white sheets covering the furniture of what he guessed would be the lounge room. Electronic devices like a TV or video machine where missing from the room, only a desk lamp and the overhead light where visible.

Mamoru felt the solitude of the room and stretched his sense's out finding that same hollow feeling throughout the house. He kept silent however, feeling that even the slightest noise would shatter the silence and something ugly would come of it. But the house was empty, he was sure of it. So he took his time to explore.

The kitchen was better then the lounge room, there was a dirty plate in the sink, and the fridge was well stocked. But beyond that again the sterile emptiness pulsated. Running a finger along the bench he found here to there was not dust and moved on to the laundry. Soaking in the laundry tub was a white shirt, which he poked at carefully until he spotted the blood spots over it. With a quick shudder her turned away from it and continued his exploration of the room. It too was clean, a few pieces of clothes waiting in a basket by the washing machine and a pair of slip on shoes at the back door. He pushed on, till he got to the stairs and again sent his sense's out. Nothing came and he crept up the annoyingly squeaky stairs.

The first variation from the empty solitude was a locked door. He jiggled the handle then without much care broke it. A quirk of a smile slipped onto his features at the action, he hadn't tested his strength for such a long time. Entering the room put him more on edge then the silence of the house so far had. There was a layer of dust so thick if someone breathed in the room it would mark. Still air and emptiness overwhelmed his senses. There where no white sheets, there was make up and clothing and tousled sheets and slanted pictures. Like a photo smothered in dust. It looked as if someone had just stood up and walked out of the room, except for the dust. Taking a ragged breath Mamoru stepped out of the room, latching it behind him.

The next locked room he forced open as well, and it's effects where the same as the previous room, but the room was different, a game consol lay between a TV and a bed, clothes where in piles about the room, a few posters on the walls had begun to peel away with age, and the dust was just as thick. Mamoru felt eerie, the first room had been an adults room, two adults, if he had parents he would guess that was what their room would be similar to. The second was a boys room judging from the clothes and posters.

His breaths became heavy, she had a brother, and parents, god knows he had heard about them enough when she talked to Andrew or her friends from school. But, not those four, not her four best friends, she hardly discussed her family with them. Something cold lurked in his mind, a knowledge that was so much more then knowledge that what ever she had said to those school people been lies and nothing but. The house felt dead.

The last room he came across, the door was latched but not locked, he opened it and stepped in. A small feeling of life came across him from the room, and he felt himself relax a little. The enter room was pinks and blues dotted every now and again with another colour. It was her room, he cold almost taste her presence in the air.

* * * * *

Demando twisted his head, scanning the hallway. There was blood in the air, thick and uninhibited. The smell gave him security and pleased him. It was not often in this part of town that such safe havens to the night creatures could be found.

His eyes turned to the door before him, and the pleased feeling dispersed leaving him with a scowl.

The creatures message had been far too short, and it had known nothing but it's message. Demando had even put the stupid thing to torture, just to be certain she hadn't given it an overwhelming sense of stubbornness along with the message. It irked him that she had the power to control exactly how much her creation knew. Most the newbies who tried such a trick would accidentally think of something else while creating their pets and the pet would know that as well. Usagi had made no such mistake and by all rights should have. It had taken him fifty years to perfect the art, his best friend who was incredibly gifted had taken only forty.

The door before him swung open, revealing a tall sandy haired man with startling turquoise eyes. Demando rethought his assessment with resentment. A tall sandy haired woman, with angry turquoise eyes. He managed to smirk at her, and refusing to acknowledge her claim to any position of power pushed past her and entered the elegantly decorated apartment.

"Haruka." Demando greeted as an after thought, his eyes closing in on the jade haired woman who stood by the window, her expression kind by unreceptive to his presence. He smirked at her as well, his eyes dangerously moving over her silk wrapped body. He was interrupted from his pursuits at unsettling her but the hand that grabbed his shoulder and twisted him around.

Haruka looked ready to kill, her expression dangerously dark as she glared at him.

"What do you want Demando?" Her eyes where narrowed, her body tense perhaps ready for a battle. Demando's smirk shifted into a grin.

"I'd like some information." He replied, his voice almost musical with it's innocence, his hands itching to strike the woman before him. Michiru was easy, without her guardian protector she was helpless pathetically helpless, but then again so too was Haruka. But he was not ready to strike one while in the others company. He sneered at that thought, the two of them defied the nature of vampires to a pin. But right now he wanted their assistance.

"Why would you need information from us?" Haruka demanded, eyes flashing dangerously as she moved past him, taking a stance that was midway between her lover and him.

"Because I don't usually dwell in these parts." Demando replied carelessly, he absently ran his hand along a near by bench his eyes catching onto one of the photo's with mild interest.

"And why exactly are you here again?" Haruka demanded, her body still tense.

"I was invited." He waved his hand vaguely towards the giant windows, a little frown pulled at those curtained windows. They where effectively a death trap, and he couldn't understand why so many vampires had such lavish window walls.

"Not by us you weren't." Haruka growled and Demando gave a laugh. His eyes quickly sweeping over her form as well. She was perhaps taller then a lot of women, and her tastes in clothing and hair needed fixing but she was still highly attractive. He saw her eyes darken with distaste at his expression and grinned at her.

"No indeed. But my invitation was rather terse, and I wanted a little more information before I followed it up." He leisurely placed himself on one of the lounges, making sure that he was notably closer to the silent Michiru to annoy Haruka a little more.

"Well who was it from?" Haruka gritted out sharply, her eyes locked on him.

"Little thing really, new to the trade." Demando muttered thoughtfully. "Usagi. I believe her name is." He continued vaguely, watching their expression for a change. Sometimes, they wouldn't directly tell him what he wanted to know, but those expressions often did. Nothing shifted much to his disappointment.

"Never heard of her." Haruka stated bluntly.

"Nor I." Michiru added, speaking for the first time. Demando looked over to find a little frown of concentration across her angelic features.

"How old is she?" Haruka demanded, drawing Demando's attention from the green haired girl.

"Three." Demando replied casually, and Haruka's eye brows rose.

"A three year old is inviting you around?" Haruka asked a little uncertain, the humour in her eyes immediately obvious. "And your following the call?" An outright laugh came from her then, Michiru lifted an eyebrow in question.

"She's ready to mate." He replied, and the humour left the room immediately. Haruka fixed him with a stern stare.

"She's three, and she's ready to mate?" Haruka hissed, her eyes void of emotion, a sign that something had clicked in her mind. Demando lent against his knees watching the standing woman with interest.

"If I said the right things to her, I probably could have taken her on the dirty roof last week." He stated clearly, his attention fixed sternly. Also across the room, he noted that Michiru's attention had become intensely focused on the conversation.

"What stopped you?" Haruka demanded, her tone more deadly then before.

"If I'd taken one, I would have taken all four of her friends as well. They're only at the beginning of the mating instincts but I'm sure after I'd finished off with the little one they would have been-" He smirked at the angry blonde "-effected."

"And you didn't want a harem of loyal friends, because they might just rebel and stake your stupid royal ass." Haruka grunted at him, not flinching as Demando's expression darkened.

"Four friends?" Michiru enquired, and she approached the conversation sedately, breaking the tension of the moment. "And she is the youngest?" Michiru directed her gaze at him and Demando nodded in confirmation. "I think I know who you are talking off, though we have not met them."

"Well I need to know where to find her." He replied with a charming smile. Then addressed Haruka, even if she wasn't a man she held more of a male presence then the pristine green haired girl. "She's border line gone, and you know how they get when we don't mate them." Again he sneered, leaning back into the couch, witty comments lingering on the edge of his tongue.

"They aren't social, they don't talk with the others of our kind. And no ones quite sure where they den, no one really cares. Three year olds are rarely any trouble." Michiru offered in a kind voice.

"Well this little three year old sent me a zombie message boy the other day, begging me for my help." Again he smirked. "I think she's getting desperate, and she's been fighting it for longer then she'll admit." He stretched lazily, the two women still watching him.

"The best your going to do is ask around tonight. Not everyone comes to us, not everyone knows about us. So try the other sanctuary's or go looking yourself." Haruka ordered, her eyes demanding he leave.

Demando smiled at her and walked across the room standing directly before her.

"It seems little Usagi isn't the only one who needs a good fucking." He sneered almost silently aware that the other woman in the room could hear him as well.

"Don't embarrass yourself Demando, we don't all need men." Haruka replied, giving him an annoyingly confident smile which Demando chose to ignore.

He gave a little laugh. "Your lucky your such an amusement woman, because the second I snap my fingers if you want it or not I'll have you mated to one of my men, and your little whore to another. Because no matter how much you deceive yourselves there are some things you simple can't do for each other, and your betraying bodies will always crave a proper-"

"Get out." Haruka gritted in determined anger and Demando gave another laugh. If they hadn't served such a fine purpose of keeping watch of this side of town for him he would have killed them years ago or at least, let his men have their way with them.

* * * * *

Mamoru starred across the lake thoughtfully, a heavy sports bag slung over his shoulder. It was amazingly calm outside in the day light. Sunlight played across the crystal surface of the lake, reflecting a thousand images and sprinkling light where it could not travel on it's own. All in all, there was a soft glow to the park. He shook his head and continued his pathway home, the bag hitting his back with each step, seemingly determined to refuse him the chance to forget his worries.

They hadn't really discussed it the night before, nor had they spoken at all that morning, but she wasn't leaving his apartment until the whole vampire thing had been figured out. He shuddered at that thought, a little unnerved by the ease at which he was adapting to the situation. Mentally he told himself he'd seen stranger, which lead his mind in a completely useless direction.

He greeted the distraction when it came. And it came in the form of an jumpy brunette who went by the name of Makoto.

"Hey, Mamoru!" She called, looking almost relieved. She approached him quickly and he came to a stop. She didn't continue immediately, her eyes slightly slitted as they stared at him. Absently she sniffed, an action too similar to Rei's the day before for him to ignore. Her next words set him on edge. She shook her head visibly and her eyes became serious.

"I just have to say this Mamoru. I'd consider you're a friend at times." She began, those green eyes staring fixedly at him. "Be nice to Usagi." Was the bland statement and she looked like she was pleased with herself and ready to leave. At that moment she seemed much more like Minako then Makoto, but the brown hair and green eyes kept him from believing he had mistaken them.

"Why is that?" He asked curiously. Certainly Usagi seemed a little more fragile then usual, in a sick way. Because she usually wasn't walking around vomiting, yet alone vomiting blood. But it was more then that, her whole temperament seemed a little on edge and unstable.

Makoto's eyes lit up angrily. "Just be nice to her okay. It's none of your business anyway! Why do you feel the need to ask?" He noticed her eyes started to jump about them suspiciously, and if they hadn't been standing in the middle of a park in broad day light he would have been more then a little worried.

"Because people don't usually walk up to me and tell me who to be nice to." Mamoru replied smoothly, absently baiting her. He wanted to see if Makoto realised what was wrong with Usagi, after all he still wasn't sure if the girl before him was as much vampire as Usagi was.

"Well I'm telling you. For your own safety just be nice to her!" Makoto growled, her tone much more aggressive then he was used to. He had heard the tone at times, but never with such intensity was it directed at him.

"For my own safety?" He mocked a little absently, trying to decipher it in his mind. Certain Usagi had tried to kill him… twice, but the way Makoto was saying it, it seemed she had known it was coming.

Unexpectedly he was struck, his body responding to the momentum of the punch and tumbled over backwards. Shocked he stared up at the burning Makoto and found her breathing fast in suppressed rage.

"Just," She breathed out with venom "be, nice to her." And with that the girl stalked away, her body radiating with rage.

It took a few minutes to get over his shock and feel the pain. And immediately he cursed loudly, moving his jaw in the process of cursing and causing more pain to thread through him. Grunting in pain he could do little more then stand up and continue his journey home. But he made a mental note not to talk to any more of Usagi's friends, or at least to not question them.

* * * * *

Usagi shifted when she heard the door open, her eyes riveting to the spot where he would appear first. And he did not disappoint her, walking into her line of sight within seconds of the door closing.

"I like what you did with the place." He joked lazily his eyes taking in the chaos from her fit only two hours before. She didn't respond to his words, and a silence settled over them.

He seemed a bit unnerved under her direct gaze, so she looked him over quickly, trying to think of something to say. She found it when she saw the sports bag over his shoulder. It seemed familiar, so half closing her eyes she inhaled the scents of the room. She pushed away those scents she had already catalogued having spent most of the day in the room and sorted through the new ones.

The smell of his blood wanted to overwhelm her but she pushed it away and dug deeper finding her own scent.

"That's mine." She stated blankly, staring at the bag. He nodded his head and easily tossed it across the room at her seat on the floor.

"I went to your house." He admitted, and her eyes jumped to his scared to see his reaction, but she found the studied blank expression she knew a little too well.

"Oh." Was all she could reply with as she looked away from him, knowing she would be a fool to hope he had done nothing but enter her room.

He gave a sigh and she looked back up. "I got you some clothes, since I doubt you want to be walking about in my clothes all day." He continued watching her carefully.

Usagi poked at the bag thoughtfully, and squirmed under his expectant gaze. She refused to tell him she quite enjoyed being wrapped in his baggy clothes. They where comfortable and laced with a spicy scent she knew to be his. Realising she was taking too long she jumped to her feet, lifting the bag up easily over her shoulder.

It was then she noticed the undiluted smell of blood and her body jerked to face him properly. His shoulder wound, although she could smell it remained covered, and out of the corner of his mouth a trail of fresh blood ran. Her body tensed for a second, her focus latched onto it. Then quickly she diverted her eyes.

Who had hit him? She glanced again her tongue wetting the corners of her lips, breathing harsh. The memory of his flavour played vividly in her head as another drop slid down to meet the first.

She wanted to taste it again, to feel the perfection of his blood slick and hot pour down her throat again.

The drop fell to the floor, followed by another. And seeing the waste her restraints vanished.

She lunged at him, her arms automatically clamping around his neck, legs around his waste and locking her ankles together behind him.

She could see the statement in his eyes as she brought her face to his, tongue darting out to draw in the line of escaping blood before her lips closed around the corner of his mouth suckling the blood she knew was in there.

She heard him groan, in pain or pleasure she didn't care as she pried his lips apart with her tongue.

Precious drops of the intoxicating elixir found her taste buds and her grip intensified, a moan of appreciation muffled only by there contact fled from her. She tried to rationalize her actions against the guilt, he was already bleeding after all, it would just be a waste to not make use of the blood.

The angle was wrong she realised and shifted herself above him.

Her lips came in full contact with his, her tongue sliding in through parted lips and searching out his injury. He flinched and she drew it back, revelling in the coating of blood and saliva. But it wasn't enough, it never was with him.

She pulled herself in closer to him, her body firm against his. Her fingers entangling in his hair. Then crushing her eyes shut, scared of his reaction, she bit down into his bottom lip.

He jerked violently beneath her but her hands kept his lips on hers and she began to suckle the blood out. Trying to be restrained, not willing to kill him as she drew as much blood as she was daring to through his lips. He made a noise of protest his hands tightening about her waist and she cringed.

Carefully, repentantly she bit at the tip of her tongue, tasting her own blood and swiped it out over his wounds, letting her blood settle in and heal the damage she had made.

He surprised her when his lips captured her tongue and drew it into his mouth. Drawing blood from her wound as she had from his. It felt like ice leaving her body, especially in contrast to the churning heat that overtook her body at his actions.

Responses in her where instinct as she tightened her hold, and pulled her tongue back, his following hers into her mouth where the quickly bit on it. Again he jerked beneath her, but his hands did not tighten their hold nor did he seem to be trying to push her away, so she drew more blood from him willing mouth.

The exchange of blood she had never experienced before though she knew he did not do it for the same reasons she did. Her mind was frazzled with excitement, her nerve ends tingling. And their tongues continued to move against each other, both drawing in the combined flavour of the other and themselves.

It reminded her of mating rituals once explained to her. And with that realisation Usagi wrenched her mouth away from him. Her eyes wide and staring into his glazed ones. Suddenly, her awareness not focused only on the blood exchange she felt his hardness pushing into her thighs.

She jumped down from her perch wrapped about his hips, quickly skittling across the room and staring at him with wide eyes. She hadn't expected that to happen, not at all, especially not with someone she knew, and from the expression on his face he was equally as shocked and frazzled.

"Oh my god!" She screamed suddenly, positioning the lounge between herself and him. "Your human!" She shouted in accusation, as if that would explain it all, but she knew it didn't because only her sense of 'right' had her across the room, all her other sense's wanted to go back to where she had been only moments before. But he was human, and she knew that mates weren't found in humans, besides she was far too young. She suspected that maybe it was because she was still part human herself, and that maybe she had a real human attraction to this man, but then the blood sharing wouldn't have been happening.

Confused she buried her head in her hands not looking up at him. She needed to talk to an elder, but she realised she was beyond their help. They would know nothing that would help, they wouldn't understand the differences between the girls and her, and the rest of the vampires. And if they ever learnt about those differences then maybe the males would find them worth while, and would force control on them. That scared her more then the man who stood across the room from her, drops of blood that had escaped their frantic kiss's trailed down his chin.

She wiped at her own face, and drew the small drops that had escaped to her mouth, unable to waste it still. Her body was shaking from the moment, her mind still whirl-winding. It shouldn't have happened, it was all wrong, and with Mamoru? She looked over at him again curiously. She could admit he was attractive, but they had done nothing but fight for so long that his physical appearance was all that redeemed the decision in her mind. Not that women had a say with who they mated, Demando would pick, or their would be a battle until a victor was decided upon and he got to take the woman.

This entire scene was completely unprecedented. She had begun a mating ritual with a human with absolutely no guidance or knowledge, and no permission. It thrilled her a little to think that she had begun something without the vampires knowledge, like the rest of her life, it would be better if they didn't know. And if she mated with Mamoru then she wouldn't have to leave the other girls, she would not be forced to exist in the other side of the city where the elder males dwelled.

"I-" Mamoru began drawing her eyes back to him. There was no longer blood on his chin and he was looking towards his door. And she realised he would have been more confused then she, because somehow he had been drawn into the bonding, and he was entirely human. "I going out." He managed, then without another word grabbed his jacket and keys, leaving the room.

She let him go, knowing he needed more time to think then she did before they tried for a conversation. And she took the time to prepare what few answers she would be able to give when he asked.

-----------------

Unfortunatly this is going to be my last update for a while. I'm taking a month break from writing and posting because I'm a bit overwhelmed. If you want to be told when I update next say so in a review, or just plain old e-mail me. My e-mail is written in my profile and is also below.

Alipa@rocketmail.com

Kimra


	6. Important Note:

To Everyone Reading My Story's:  
  
Just so you all know, I will not be updating for age's and age's because some snot nosed little thieving bastard stole my computer while I was in England. That mean's all half written scene's, all story lines, and all those other things needed to complete these story's are currently beyond my reach.  
  
On the plus side I do have a back up for these files, but until the insurance company pay's up and I've actually got a computer to put the back up on I can not reach any of them. I'm very sorry about this, but you can all safely bet that I did not want to have my computer stolen (oddly enough).  
  
So if you want to be told when I've gotten a computer, finished the pending scene's and updated which ever story it is you are currently awaiting scene's for, feel free to e-mail me and ask to be notified or leave a review asking to be notified (either way works).  
  
Sorry for yet another delay,  
  
Kimra 


	7. Part Five

**Innocent's Violence**

By Kimra

**Part 5**

He stared at the mug of coffee clenched between his palms. A slither of hot steam curled its way towards the roof before fading into nothing. He wasn't breathing well. He could hear the ragged breaths being drawn in and released like a broken symphony. And it wasn't just his breathing, every part of him seemed to shudder and pulse at odd intervals. His mind transfixed with one thing… one person alone.

He wondered if he was sane, if somewhere in the last few days he had hit his head and he was stuck in one of the strangest dreams he had ever had. But no. He had had stranger dreams before and in the end they hadn't been dreams so he reluctantly accepted the reality around him. He just wished it could be a dream to wake from.

On the other side of the counter Motoki chirped a question. But Mamoru didn't hear the words just the tone and as his eyes jumped up in surprise at the interruption to his thoughts.

Without pause or reason he found himself assessing his friend. For what he wasn't sure, but he knew within seconds that if a fight between them broke out that his friend would stand little chance.

The blonde man smiled teasingly. "I see it's going well." His voice tinged with amusement, laughter edging his words.

Mamoru's hands flexed around his cup tighter, wondering how much pressure he could apply before the china shattered below his hold. He didn't know what Motoki was saying, didn't really care, all he could think of at the moment was that this man knew Usagi, that she liked him and because of that, he didn't.

A growl settled at the back of his throat, a noise he refused to release as he logically explained to himself that he was being unreasonable, that Motoki was a friend and had always been a friend, and more, Motoki had no interests in Usagi. He didn't know why but the last thought allowed him to pull in his control and push away the predatory need to stare down his friend or kill him.

Instead of releasing the growl, Mamoru let a groan escape his tired throat, his head lightly hitting the counter between his arms. He was going insane, there was no question about it, in a matter of three days she had, as he always suspected she would, driven him completely insane.

His mind did what he most didn't want it to do. It went back to the scene that had played out earlier that afternoon. It couldn't have been long ago, minutes, hours, he wasn't sure, all he knew was his coffee was still steaming. But Motoki could have refilled it, could have changed it and he wouldn't have noticed.

The taste of her still lingered in his mind and on his tongue, the taste of vanilla and cream, blood and saliva, power, fragility, youth and strangely enough innocence. The feel of her in his arms, the thunder in his body as he had delved into an experience he would never be able to explain.

Another groan escaped him, more animalistic then the last, less concealed. He didn't care if every creature in the arcade was looking at him he didn't raise his head from the counter where it had collapsed. He couldn't cope, not with this, not with her. If there was one creature in this universe who had been made merely to confuse and bewilder him it would have to be Usagi Tsukino.

Motoki's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Hey, man. Are you okay?"

Mamoru raised his head to meet his friends partially amused but slightly concerned expression. "Got a shot gun?" Mamoru asked lightly, his whole body protesting the tints of amusement that laced though his voice.

Motoki's eyebrow rose in curiosity, his expression slightly concerned. "You feeling okay?" He tried again.

Mamoru gave a bark of a laugh. Not in this life time was there enough time to explain to Motoki the foolishness of asking some questions.

"I'm fine, man." He made it sound light, and oddly it did. He was impressed his voice didn't tremble because the rest of him was shaking from the flushes of adrenaline and horror that alternated though his system every time he let his thoughts go back to her.

"You going to drink that?" Motoki asked gesturing to the forgotten cup of coffee.

Mamoru looked at the coffee in his shaking hands not at all interested in the bitter sweet drink. It was nothing like her, the taste of her blood, what ever had compelled him to draw it out, had been icy and smooth, like a chilled wine. It had been laced with power and oddly enough a strange sense of promise.

He nearly chocked at the thought of her again. Something overwhelming plunging through him sending his nerves into a rusted hum that mimicked the way he'd felt with her so tight in his arms.

Abruptly he stood pushing the coffee away from him, knowing keenly that if he drank it right then he would be sick.

"No." He whispered, his eyes fixed on the counter, on the cup that still steamed. He hadn't been there for very long. "No…" he was uncertain, unsure what the next move had to be. But she was there waiting for him, he knew, and he had to face her eventually. "No I have to go." He said the words clearly as he turned from the counter, taking the first steps to a destination he was still uncertain off.

Four pairs of eyes stopped his progression momentarily, each pair slipping across his body with intense scrutiny. He felt himself freeze, felt his insides twist with a warning of danger and his hand hitch to his jacket pocket unthinkingly. It had been years since battle instincts had played a part in his life, but just the look in their eyes aroused those instincts like second nature.

The violet eyes moved beyond him first, finding another target deeper within the arcade walls, the green's where next to leave.

"Motoki." Rei's voice was smooth, a silky quality to it that trailed over skin and sent shivers along any listeners spine. Rei walked past Mamoru, heading, he guessed for the counter. Makoto seemed more hesitant her eyes scanning him one more time before moving beyond him.

"What can I do for you Rei?" Motoki's voice was as charming as ever, and Mamoru suppressed the need to role his eyes only because he was still under the deep scrutiny of the two remaining girls.

"I was wondering if you'd seen Usagi today."

Mamoru flinched, but at Rei's question both Ami and Minako had turned their attention towards Motoki as well, and neither noticed his reaction.

He moved between the two without question or comment and made his escape onto the street, the arcade doors closing silently behind him. There was something dangerous about them he did not want to see.

*****

Rei stirred her milkshake thoughtfully. Nowhere. She was absolutely nowhere that they could think to look. Two nights and Usagi hadn't reappeared. In the pit of her stomach Rei felt the worry churn.

A hand touched her shoulder, equally worried minds offering what comfort they could give through a link that seemed tenuous and fragile since their friends disappearance. Rei cast a smile to Minako for the physical contact her eyes quickly diverting back to the milkshake.

It was food, food she didn't need but she had to order something after talking with Motoki. He was suspicious enough that Usagi wasn't there, though Makoto had done something rather interesting with her voice and he had almost forgotten what they where talking about. Rei reminded herself that questioning Makoto would have to happen latter for now they had to focus on the important task. Usagi.

"Maybe we should look harder?" Ami suggested from her corner, her blue eyes almost black with the downcast expression she had. There was a hush for a few moments, every one of them considering the options before them.

"We don't know if she's in danger." Minako began tentatively.

"But we don't know if she's safe." Makoto interrupted with a growl.

Rei pushed back the urge to shift away from the girl. Her imagination wasn't playing tricks on her, Makoto was becoming more aggressive. "We have to assume she's in trouble. She's never disappeared before." She kept her voice calm. They where all on edge after losing one of their own, and she could feel the tension along the veins of their bond.

"She has." Minako was quite once more, the voice of reason amongst them all. It was scary when the blonde became the voice of reason because it spoke of the true danger of the moment. Minako only became so serious when the stakes where high.

"That was a long time ago and it doesn't count." Makoto snapped back.

"She has never disappeared without a reason." Ami tapped her fingers on the table, and Rei could see them itching to help. She nearly smiled, there where just some things time couldn't erase.

"But she has a reason. She's close to mating." There was strain in Minako's voice, a surrender that was not safe.

"I thought she was just avoiding us." Makoto whispered, a volume only they could hear. "But, this afternoon, when the bond just vanished like that…"

Ami gripped Makoto's hand, her eyes no longer black, instead blazing with an anger that was aimed at none of them. "We should have seen it coming." She told the others, that anger directed at them only for a moment before it was focused on other things, things she would not explain.

"The bond was never meant to break." Minako whispered, her eyes where crystalline, tears where threatening. All of them stopped to stare at the girl, and the next moment they where all flooding her with reassurance. Minako didn't seem to respond, her body still attention fixed away from them. "Did we ever consider, that the bond of a mate is stronger then what we have?" Everything froze at Minako's words, eyes turned to her with fear and confusion. Minako looked at none of them, her eyes fixed on the untouched food sitting before her.

"What do you mean?" Rei breathed, her hands where sweaty, she could feel her heart accelerating in a way that was painful for the rest of her body to keep up with.

"You think we're too late?" Ami asked panicked. Her eyes where suddenly huge her voice quivering with shock and hysteria. "That she's already mated?"

"I don't know!" Minako shouted suddenly, the eyes of the arcade fixing on her as she flung her plate across the room jumping to her feet. "Do you think I know anything? I'm saying what if! What if it's too late? What if the reason we can't reach her is because they wont let us? What if she went to them before she went to us?" The last words twisted all their souls hurting more then any physical wound ever would. Makoto reacted first, her body rising to face the unmeasurable anger directed at them all from one small blonde.

"She wouldn't do that! Usagi's stronger then that."

"Well how do we know that? Who told you she was infallible? There isn't a trace of her! We've searched half the city, everywhere she hangs out! She hasn't even been home! The only smell within half a mile of her house was human!"

Rei jumped to her feet suddenly, not in anger in panic, her hand slamming against the table. She heard it crack at the pressure and saw the heads of all her friends jump to face her. Her heart was beating wildly, every eye in the arcade was trained on her, waiting for her next move and it had to be good. She glared only fleetingly at her friends then cracked the biggest grin her trembling body could maintain.

"You have got to lay off those sci-fi manga Minako! I swear, if you become any more of a space cadet I'll have trouble deciding who's worse, you or Usagi." She tried to sound light and reprimanding all at once, knowing it wasn't her pathetic excuse that would make the greatest difference.

Minako blinked then turned on her mega watt smile her hands taking up the familiar pose of Sailor V. "You know what they say Rei, if you can't beat them, join them."

From the corner of the booth where Ami was still sitting a small cough came. Heads turned to the blue haired girl. "That made absolutely no sense Minako." She sounded like a know it all, her voice almost superior as she looked up at them.

Minako flounced quickly, throwing her arms above her head and doing a little twist that was almost impossible considering their closed quarters. She gave a shrug, certain that the arcade could see and threw herself back into the seat. Each movement perfectly timed to seem normal.

"Sit down Makoto." Rei ordered lightly, and the tall girl sat reluctantly, her eyes fixed on the crowd that still stared. Rei glanced at Motoki to find him completely uninvolved in their display, his attention on something behind the counter. With a sigh Rei shoved a warning through their link and reprimand for words that shouldn't be said aloud. All eyes shifted from her briefly then back to each other. She tasted the apology from Minako but the emotions where laced with resentment.

Silence controlled them as they all allowed each other to calm down, sorting through their privet thoughts.

Rei's eyes shifted to Motoki playing ideally with one of the chips on her plate. She didn't want to think about Usagi, those thoughts where too uncertain so she sort the trivial to deal with the time that would exist before her friends would again attempt to open their mouths.

There where children who ran about the arcade, cries of joy and some of rage that echoed off glass windows and solid walls. The chime of games distant in her hearing, the chatter of a few students from Usagi's school in a booth just behind theirs. Motoki was making coffee's, his smile pleasant and seemingly permanent. A few boys sat at the counter, one of them reading a book. Everything was as it always was, except for Usagi, she was meant to be there shouting at Mamoru.

Rei's eyes skipped back to the counter only to remember seeing him leave as they entered. It seemed discordant to have both absent.

"We have to look for her." Ami said slowly, aware of frayed tempers and unstable emotions.

Rei looked back to her friends knowing they where ready to continue. "I agree." She said it as calmly as Ami, as stably as she could. There was a tremor in her body, of excitement or fear or both she wasn't sure.

Makoto nodded her head sharply, no doubt in her eyes or through the link that bound them.

"It's going to be dangerous." Minako warned softly, her eyes pleading her hands fisted. "I want to help her. I do. But if we can't help her, if it's beyond the chance to help, then we'll be harming her." Water shinned across Minako's big eyes, her voice firm and unwavering. "I don't want to destroy her."

It was a time for decisions, for weighing the odds. They did it unconsciously, opening the floodgates of their links to one another, fortifying bridges that had begun to crumble over the months.

Minako's thoughts where clear, those of a fighter trying to protect and at the same time accept that things may have already spiralled beyond control. She did no want to cause more damage then good. But there like the rest of them was the throbbing need to help, to try, to rescue.

There options where simple, accept and ignore, or fight and possible damage. All four minds merged together, a keen absence where Usagi's psyche would usually make itself known. Unconsciously they all tried to compensate for her loss, tried to decide what she would do.

And the second they did so they all knew what had to be done.

Rei was standing before she was aware of the motion, the others with her. They moved for the door as one, and stoped as one when a male figure loomed before them arms crossed over his chest as he blocked the door way. They paused to allow him past but he did not move, they went to moved past and he blocked.

Danger thrills went through them all, through the link, and amplified itself when each realised that the danger was not only to themselves but to each other as well. They assessed as one, something they had not done for a long time.

One of them said he was male, one of them disagreed, it was decided he might be female. One of them noted green eyes and short blonde hair. One a body of a warrior, muscles and balance. One a cocky attitude, assured and in their way.

It was unanimously decided that Ami, as the least threatening should talk. The link broke down a notch. "Would you mind moving so we may go past?"

The man who might be a girl glanced over its shoulder to the outside then looked back in at them a mocking smirk moving into place across it's features.

"What's the hurry, girl? The sun's already up."

*****

He was trying to be calm. She could see it in every movement he made, every breath he drew in. She would have offered a reassuring smile if she hadn't been so scared herself. The kitchen bench was between them, something they had done without thought in their attempts to deal with the awkward situation.

Usagi smiled bitterly, knowing the physical barrier was necessary, she felt the pull to draw closer to him even now. The same pull that had tugged at her since he had walked back into the apartment.

"Where do we start?" Mamoru asked slowly, his hands resting on the kitchen bench, eyes level with hers.

She wanted to sigh, at least they where looking at each other.

She licked her upper lip nervously, preparing herself for anything. "Ask me anything." She whispered it, and suddenly she needed to look away because she was afraid of the questions he would ask.

He chose the easier questions, and she resented him for it. "Your family?"

"Are dead." She snapped the words quickly but her voice was breathless from the emotions that clogged her throat. She was unwilling to broach the topic further, after all she had told him to ask, not promised to answer. She met his eyes then, once more aware that the contact had to be made, he had to see that she was not willing to go there with him.

His expression did not change, his eyes no darker or lighter, and she was thankful for the static response.

"Your friends?"

"Are friends." She replied tightly. Nothing would bring her to betray them, ever.

"Are you going to answer anything properly?" He demanded harshly.

She met his eyes with an expression of her own anger. He didn't flinch, she knew she could make him but the reaction wasn't necessary.

"Ask me for the answers you have a right to." She growled it low, the resentment shifting into anger so quickly it shocked her.

He muttered an oath, his hand raking through disarrayed hair. He turned from her for a minute and stalked over to the fridge, opened it and stared at the contents within. She could hear his heart beating quickly, smell the sweat on him and the tinge of blood still dominating his scent. She closed her sense off, unable to deal with that smell right now. Her stomach twisted in a knot, warning of hunger that had yet to be satiated. It had been months since she had gotten a proper meal.

Slowly his pulse began to settle.

"Are you hungry?" He asked absently and she looked passed him into the fridge as best she could from her corner of the kitchen.

She spied something of interest. "Is that chocolate?" She perked at the idea of a snack, but the emotion dulled when he looked over at her incredulously. "What?" She demanded defensive.

"You want chocolate?" He asked it slowly, watching her for signs of deceit and she frowned at him in response.

"Since when haven't I wanted chocolate?" She demanded as tartly as she could. She had thought he would know her better then that by now, when there was chocolate she was always first on line.

"So what?" He asked casually turning to stare at her with curiosity, she noticed he had no chocolate in his hands. "You want chocolate today? Blood tomorrow?" He was frowning but it was nothing to the frown she adopted the second the words registered.

"Bastard." She muttered her eyes dark as her thoughts shifted to the stronger of her cravings. "Why can't you ever be nice?" She demanded, her eyes moving quickly from him to the floor as she clenched her hands into tight fists. If she hadn't already suffered from the guilt feeding from him created she would have been across the room in less then a second. She was listening to his pulse again, but this time with different intents.

He shifted his weight, she was keenly aware of the motion. The fridge opened and closed again, and while she counted her heart beats, and tried to control her breathing he moved across the room to her. She looked up when he was before her, his uncertainty obvious as he held out a plate of chocolates.

"I'm confused." He told her when she reached for the chocolate unthinkingly. Her eyes jerked to his, startled by the thoughtfulness in her voice. Her breathing stopped when she realised he had crossed the boundary of the kitchen bench.

"About what?" Her words where breathless as she stared up at him, her mind working to tell her to look away, her fingers lingering over the peace offerings.

"Vampires live off blood. So why do you eat so much?"

It was almost a question she could answer so she gave him a small smile.

"I just get hungry sometimes." She snatched a chocolate off the plate with deft fingers and slipped it into her mouth to prove a point that didn't need proving.

He raised a brow at her, looking down his nose and said it a voice that made it sound like a correction. "All the time."

She pouted annoyed then strangely found the humour in it and grinned. "I just get hungry. Sometimes I need food, sometimes I need blood. Different parts of me need different things."

He put the plate on the bench by her hip, not retreating for his post before her. "So vampires are normal… except for the blood?"

"Yeah sure." She muttered amused at his ignorance. "And that whole sun thing."

"Usagi?"

"What?"

"What sun thing?" He was looking out over her shoulder into his lounge room where the setting sun's rays lingered still.

Usagi's stomach clenched as she followed his gaze, her mind berating a slip that shouldn't have happened. "Nothing." She snapped.

"Don't avoid the answer." He growled quickly, annoyed by her sudden withdrawal.

"Look Mamoru. Lets get this straight right now. I'm not exactly human, I'm not exactly vampire. I can't explain it, I wont explain it and it's just something you have to accept." She could see the discontent in his expression, the need to understand more then she could explain. "Vampires have a tendency to burst into flames and stuff when subjected to light. The older ones can stand a bit, so I'm told, but-"

"They don't walk about going to school?"

Usagi could hear the soft reprimand, as if she had done something wrong for trying to remain as she had been before it all. She looked down from him feeling the alienation that had become her life. "We- I needed some sort of normalcy. If I was one, or the other, I think I'd be okay. I think I'd belong."

"Why aren't you one or the other?"

She meet his blue eyes pleadingly. "Can we talk about something else?"

His expression was grim, his eyes dark as they stared at her. Slowly he reached forwards, breaking the small distance between them and traced his index finger along the vein of her throat down to her collar bone. He looked contemplative when his eyes moved back to her face. The contact between them broken as he lifted his hand away from her skin.

"Okay." He whispered it, his voice a little deeper, a little more dangerous. Usagi bit back on any sound that wanted to escape as she fought the escalation of her pulse. Her breathing was still calm, she was abnormally proud of that, but her heart refused to bend to her will and slow it's pace.

He looked away, his sight going beyond her and into the lounge room. She didn't object to the break, or the silence that settled between them, using time to control what a simple action had unsettled. She wondered why he had touched her, they had been doing so well until then. Now she couldn't bring herself to look away from the man before her.

"What was that that happened between us?" He asked slowly, still not looking to her.

"It was sex Mamoru," she replied quickly, then calmed "or the beginnings of it." Her hands where shaking now that the memory was drudged up. She realised the conversation had just taken a dangerous turn that she had been waiting for. It was easy enough to ignore something when your attention wasn't focused on it, but he was now asking for answers to things that left her blood burning.

"I know that. But why you? Why like that?" Confusion reigned in his tone, uncertainty that was out of place in his soothing voice. She tucked her hands between the bench and her bottom, unwilling to let him see the shaking that would not subside.

"I don't know much. I can't explain everything. But what I know is that when a female vampire reaches an age she goes into- heat- I guess. She has to mate, it can drive her insane if she doesn't, the very least she'll kill everyone around her." And gods she was looking at his neck again, at the bandages that peaked out from under his black shirt.

"And your at this age?" He sounded calm, she hated him for that because her body was on fire, burning with sensations that did not belong to a calm rational conversation.

"I told you I was different. It can take a hundred years, sometimes twice as long for the woman to mature enough to mate. It took me three years." She couldn't stop the bite that had started to seep into her words. She felt bitter and annoyed that she was in this position when she by rights should have had another ninety-seven years of peace. She could see he wasn't satisfied, as if he expected more of her. She bit into the inside of her check, letting her own blood wash through her mouth. "The mating." She began with a deep breath. "I barely know anything. The men, they don't let you know it's their power over us." She was rambling, but for everything she was worth she had to ramble, her mind couldn't quite focus. "I know there's sex, I know there's blood exchanges, it's a ritual, but I don't know anything else." Anger boiled up with the other emotions and she spat her last words with animosity. "I didn't need to know any more." She hated the ignorance that had kept her away from information that would now be vital to her existence. They all would have looked, searched, researched but they had done nothing but try and survive in their changing world since their creation.

"You think it was a mating ritual? How can that be? As you said. I'm human."

"So am I, sort of, at times." She felt pathetic because of her inability to understand. Her mind shifting for a moment from him as she too tried to puzzle over the unexplainable. "So maybe I don't have to mate with a vampire, maybe I can mate with anyone." Frustration returned. "I can't offer you answers Mamoru, I can only offer you my best guess."

"Right now your best guess is more informed then mine."

She didn't meet his eyes as she said the next words. Words that needed to be said but she wished she could avoid. "Maybe as a human I was attracted to you, and that attraction made it possible." She loathed that it hurt so much to admit such things.

"Maybe you where attracted to me?" His raised his brows as he watched her, his eyes full of mischief and teasing.

She threw her hands in the air. "Oh gods! You are so vain!" She glared up at him, still so close. "Yes okay, yes I was attracted to you! But in any other circumstances I'd have too much pride to ever admit to such a thing!" Why did she say that? She wasn't sure, the last words had tumbled from her lips before control could be exerted.

"What does pride have to do with it?" His voice was soft, calmer, not so teasing and just a little curious.

She felt bare and exposed, why did she have to explain things she had been hiding since they met when he was free to keep his secrets? "Because you Baka! Because I get laughed at enough! I don't need to give you another reason to belittle me!" It came out in a scream, her voice cracking and frayed with each word. She wasn't looking at him, wasn't even looking near him. She didn't want to see him laugh any more now then she had then. And her over reaction seemed a guarantee that he would find it a hundred times more amusing.

Her nails dug into her palms as she waited for the reaction that would break her. She hated this dependency on him, where it had come from she would never know, but for so long now she could not remember even when it had begun she had found herself striving in some way for his attention, his good opinion. She didn't think much into it. Because their relationship had been fights and arguments, and the way to stay an equal to remain good enough had been to fight back. It had been simple. But within the simple actions she realised things had been working against her. Dependency had been built. A day without an argument left her angry and impossible, a day with an argument left her angry and unfulfilled. And the very thought of losing the chance to spar with him, to fight with him was terrifying.

His lips met hers. A soft kiss, a kiss of honesty and trust. Her eyes jumped to his, a sense of surprise throughout her being. He moved back quickly a half smile on his handsome face.

"I think we both have too much pride." He whispered before his lips where once more sealed over hers.

She surrendered to her emotions again. Pushing the kiss into something less controlled. He didn't fight the progression, pulling away for a breath before returning, hands clasping around her. Her fingers slid into his hair, pulling him down to meet her lips with more force. She pushed back the need to bite, to draw the blood out, enjoying an experience that was entirely human in it's simplicity.

-----------------

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	8. Part Six

I realise this update is increadibly short, however it was how I wanted to end the previous update but I could never word it properly. I hope people like this a bit better then they did the last update as well.

Kimra

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**Innocent's Violence**

By Kimra

**Part 6**

"Isn't this interesting." An educated voice broke into her drowning senses and Usagi yanked back. It wasn't the man before her talking, she knew that, his lips and been to firmly connected with hers for it to have been him, but the voice had been real and near. Her head whipped around faster then Mamoru's and she saw lazing in the kitchen door a man she had never seen before.

A quick glance to Mamoru a quirk of her brow and she could see his confusion as well as she could feel her own. She glared at the intruder then, her hands curling tighter into Mamoru, not wanting to release the hold that had been quite perfect until the interruption.

"Who are you?" She bit the words out, the levels of anger and resentment towards the stranger peaking. His posture spoke of lazy comfort, his eyes of deep and concentrated attention. His clothes where perfectly manicured, hair curt neatly. There was nothing about the man before them that spoke of anything but power and control.

"Why dear girl. You called for me, I would expect better reception."

Fear pushed through her system as his educated voice responded. There was a sneer, a little humour and a large does of malice hidden in the tones aimed at her.

Usagi forced her grip on Mamoru to release, glared into his eyes warningly when his hold remained and he released her reluctantly. Then she turned her attention to the stranger.

"Demando." Not a question, a statement of fact, she should have known from the power he emanated, but she was distracted.

He nodded his head, the smirk on his lips growing and she clenched her hand in response to the arrogance. She was in danger, Mamoru was in danger and she could feel the anger begin to build.

"I'd bet my blood his human." Demando murmured, his eyes sweeping over her shoulder and scrutinizing Mamoru. She stepped between them automatically, not caring that it betrayed her interest in Mamoru's well being or that it clarified that he was indeed human.

"You have no right to be here." She bit out at the white haired man, her pulse was quickening on her and her attention was wavering.

"You invited me. I have every right." He smiled at her, his eyes sliding down her body now and the smile grew into a leer. "And I see your getting very close to losing control."

"You have no idea how close." Her voice rumbled with the warning, a growl in the depths of her throat that shook her to the core and reverberated through the room.

"I'd be more careful when delivering threats, young one. You never know who's going to take them seriously and rip your pretty little head off." The damnable smirk didn't move, his posture didn't change.

Her blood felt like it was boiling as she continued to glare at the arrogant pig. Her hands griped and released spasmodically, her thoughts blanking and wavering until all she could think about was protecting herself, and Mamoru.

She moved towards him faster then she expected, the attack hardly a second alive before Demando had knocked her down. She moved fast again, raising from the ground ready to kill unable to control the urges that propelled the logic from her thoughts.

He caught her before her sharp nails could dig into him, spun her around and pulled her back up against his front. His breath pushed against her neck and her wide eyes locked on Mamoru as she tried to struggle from the hold.

"Aren't you an interesting little rabbit." The slick voice whispered into her throat before his teeth sunk into her flesh. She tried to fight, the muscles of her neck straining against the intrusion tried to push the man away from her as he pulled the blood out of her. This didn't feel like it had when Mamoru had taken some of her blood, this time it felt vial and forced.

*****

Demando let Usagi's body fall to the floor, his dark eyes jumping to the man across the room. He smiled to the man, feeling amused and invigorated. He hadn't expected the girls blood to be so potent, hadn't expected anything so powerful from someone only just on their mating urgers yet alone a three year old. It would have been a shock to his system if he hadn't taken some of the elder vampires in his time, as it was he processed the raw power with the skill of practice.

"Now what to do with you." There was fear in the humans eyes, he was obviously in over his head, but Demando could not mistake the possessive and protective expression either. The human was fixated with the vampire chit and far more interesting then anything else the human smelt like her. It was possible however strange it seemed that some sort of blood transfer had happened.

"Who the hell are you?"

Demando grinned at the bravado. It seemed the possessive instincts where winning over the humans common sense.

"I am Prince Demando, I rule the vampires. And you? Who are you?"

*****

"What's the hurry, girl? The sun's already up."

They all froze for a moment making sure they had heard the odd statement clearly. At least, it was an odd statement if you hadn't spent the last three years as a vampire. As it was, the setting sun through the arcades doors was more then obvious to anyone who lived their lives by such things.

The link broke down, their determination hindered by the puzzle and obstacle before them. Ami picked it up before the rest of them.

"What are you?" The blue eyes moved past the stranger to the sun set and Ami sent out her thoughts to the others. The only people who knew what they where, who could tell by looking at them, where vampires. But the creature before them was standing in as much day light as they where.

"What? You think you're the only planets in the solar system?" The blonde smirked, leaning back into their casual stance, green eyes alert.

The link shattered as confusion went through them all, their eyes locking on the person before them, the girl they all assumed, who had just made a reference to something no one else had ever known.

"Who the hell are you?" Rei shouted not caring that the whole arcade was once more that afternoon staring at them.

The blonde's smirk didn't waver but Mina saw the less cynical and more human expressions that the stranger was trying to hide. There was hope in their depths, and it was the kind of hope that Mina hadn't felt for a long time.

"Maybe we should take this somewhere else girls." Makoto was frowning, her arms crossed and trying to look as casual as this stranger did. "And you Sir, Ma'am, which ever you are."

"I know just the place." The blonde informed them with a calm smile, then met Makoto's eyes squarely. "To save you to confusion. I'm a woman." And with that the blonde turned on her heel and exited the arcade, the four girls waiting only a second to confirm each others willingness to follow before they did.


	9. Part Seven

Hey, at long last I put this scene up! I'm so sorry to all those people I expressly promised it sooner to, I'm non-to-reliable it seems. Have been doing lots of Uni stuff and haven't had a chance to do anything. The next and would be last update may take forever but I hope now that I'm back at it I'll be able to stick with it. 

Kimra 

PLEASE don't forget to review. 

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**Innocent's Violence**

By Kimra 

**Part 7 **

Usagi woke with a shiver a cold draught running across her bare feet and legs. She didn't move at first, despite the cold. Her neck was throbbing, her head was fuzzy and there was an odd sense of isolation that emitted through the cold air around her. 

She wet her lips and let her eyes peak open pretending to ignore the unarguable knowledge that resonated through her senses telling her she was not safe. It took only a moment, however, to surrender to herself and admit that she was in far more trouble then she had ever wanted to be. 

The dizzy sensation that seemed to bubble around her head did not stop her from noticing she was underground, in a room made of stone. There where decorations about, beautiful trinkets and candles she could only imagine the origins of but they took nothing from the cold feel the looming walls gave. She was on a bed too, that took her only a moment to realise, sprawled across white silk and dressed as she remembered being before Dema- 

Her mind clicked into memory and she cursed herself for a fool a hundred times over. Her fingers tentatively touched at the sore spot on her neck, feeling the welts that had already begun to rise. She had lunged at him. As if she had the strength to fight him she had lunged. Even if she had been able to beat him an uncoordinated unplanned attack as she had executed would never have been the way. But her mind hadn't been in it, just like it had for so long now it had betrayed her, falling back onto primal instincts not strategic battle plans. 

Luna would have killed her. 

Usagi froze, all thought suspended for a moment of older memory that was far to painful to linger on. It had been years and her mind still hadn't really overcome it. On instinct Usagi pushed the thoughts away, knowing her focus needed to be cantered on her surroundings not on the broken past. 

She was thankful as she slid her bare feet to the icy stone floor, that Demando hadn't taken much blood because even as she walked she felt the weakness of months of ill feeding and the last few days of vomiting and cravings. 

There was the sick feeling that made her want to retch again when she thought of the violation that had occurred to her. She hadn't been drunk from before, not since the beginning and she knew with a hot certainty that if she had the chance she would kill Demando for touching her. For a second her mind flashed back to that first time, when she hadn't known what was happening when the man had just smiled at her and like an idiot she hadn't moved and it had all gone to hell. 

Her stomach lurched at that thought, at the realisation that it had happened again and once more she had been powerless but she refused to be weak, refused to allow her body to follow the urge to vomit through and instead punched the wall. Her feeble strength was shocking, the stone was barely marred, she hadn't even broken her skin and she had struck with her full strength. 

Worry set in. Panic a step behind it. 

Demando had bit her, he had drawn from her and she had fallen pathetically unconscious. It wouldn't have been enough if she hadn't already been skimming the lines of starvation, two months before and she would have had the strength to fight back. But she didn't and she was here, in his room maybe, maybe someone else's room, the particulars didn't matter, what she knew was she was in the male sector. A part of the city her friends and she had avoided since knowing of it's existence, and it was the last place she ever wanted to be. 

But she was here. She thought about that. It meant he had seen it then, she was close to mating, she had been close to mating with- 

No. She wouldn't think it. Wouldn't allow herself to realise what had happened, but some part of her began to shut down retaliating against the closing of her walls and setting into motion a reaction that she refused to realise the reason for. She needed to forget, needed to escape. She couldn't think about it because there was no way Demando had let him live. 

She didn't know what she was thinking, what she was feeling, but she knew she was crying silent hot tears that traced down her checks splashing red against the floor. 

A door opened, but Usagi didn't turn. She was trying so very hard not to think, trying so very hard to stop the tears escaping her. There where soft footsteps approaching her, bare feet on the cold stone, but she didn't turn to face the stranger. Could barely move to breath. Someone stoped before her, but she did not raise her eyes to meet the face. 

A hand touched her chin and raised her head lightly. She meet a pair of violet eyes with an empty stare, there was nothing but the need to ignore. If she didn't allow herself to realise the reality of the moment she would never have to realise the loses that reality had forced upon her. Her eyes clenched away from the moment, pushing those thoughts away again. She needed to get out, needed to escape, but she could barely move. 

"Your weak." Was whispered by the young girl before her in a voice of superior knowledge. 

Smiling bitterly up at the girl Usagi waited for the axe to fall. She noticed the girl withdraw a blade before slicing it's own wrist, saw the red cut drawn across the pale skin and felt the light touch of flesh and blood against her lips before she was aware what was happening. 

"It will help." The girl stated with detached mildness. 

Usagi wanted to pull back when the taste of blood infused her mouth but the strength was beyond her. Moving, thinking, they seemed too hard in the face of what had already happened. She didn't care, suddenly, if they forced her to feed, if she was sick from it all. It was irrelevant. 

She couldn't help but notice though that there was something strange about this girls blood, something that didn't upset or appease her. Her human mind compared it to eating a bowl or rice, no flavour, but filling, and the rest of her wasn't quite sure what to compare it too because blood had never been flavourless. She drew it in though, took the offering the young girl was giving and let the weakness of her limbs subside although they still shook, although her mind still remained unfocused on the moment, and she still couldn't bring herself to comprehend. 

When the wrist was drawn from her mouth, when the girl was moving away, only then did Usagi bring herself to react. Emotion held no place in the moment. 

"Who are you?" Usagi interrupted and the girl met her eyes with the same clear violet eyes as before. 

"You must dress." 

"Who are you?" Usagi demanded with more sharpness and animosity then before. 

"I am Destruction." Was the simple reply. 

"Why are you here?" Usagi probed further. 

"I hold the castle." 

"This castle? How can you live with the men?" Usagi was frowning at the girl, confused, anxious, and uncertain. There was a lot she didn't know and she would readily admit it when the need arose but she had been sure no female lived near the males. Even those who had begun mating kept away from the central area of the male quarter. 

"I am an ancient." Again the stony simple reply came. 

"What does that mean?" Usagi demanded, her patience thinning. 

"I do not mate." 

"Lucky you." Usagi retorted bitterly not bothering to question the statement. 

"You must dress." Was repeated. 

Usagi didn't look as the girl moved across the room, retrieving something, instead replied steadily, "I don't want to." 

"It is not an option." 

"I'm not going to dress up so they can play games with me!" Usagi screamed her eyes fixed on the girl, anger coursing through her veins. If they had thought she was unstable before- 

"He is still alive." 

Usagi stopped, anger slipping from her and she stared at the girl walking back to the bed an armful of white cloth. "What?" Her voice cracked around the whispered question, a sense of horror and loss inside her tightening. If this was a joke she'd kill them all. 

"They will kill him if you do not comply." 

--------- 

"The beginning is sketchy." Haruka began as she examined the four girls seated about her apartment. They where on edge, frightened little children who had just walked into her lair. It would have been amusing if it hadn't been so disheartening. They may have killed, they may have fed a hundred times but they where still so human, so innocent. "Saturn was first." She continued leaning back against the glass window. "Pluto followed." 

The beginning had been sketchy, for all of them. Hotaru had been first, Setsuna had followed. All there stories had been complicated, all of them had been littered with moments for freedom, for escape. But the ties that bound them had locked their fate in place and they had followed their own into the dark. 

Haruka didn't say that, there wasn't time for the whole story. "Michiru and I, we got drawn in together. A long time ago, that was." 

"Michiru?" The brunette, Makoto, asked quickly, interrupting the story. 

"My mate." Haruka replied that streak of protectiveness that always emerged when talking about Michiru dominate in her voice and presence suddenly. 

"Isn't that..." the black haired girl, Rei, hesitated only a moment before pushing on with the question "a girls name?" Haruka only nodded her head in reply. They didn't have time for the lengthy story that also involved. 

"How long ago?" The blue haired girl, Ami, asked tentatively but with a streak of assertiveness that made her noticeable. 

Haruka continued glancing only once at the Blonde, Minako she assumed as she had with the other girls names to make sure she was as wrapt as the other girls. "This isn't our first re-incarnation since the Silver Millennium." 

"The what?" Minako asked with a sound of disgust in her voice. 

Horror overcame Haruka at the realisation of what those words meant. They didn't know... they didn't even know. She caught herself, forced the knowledge in and pushed on. "We all came from the same place. A pervious life, it was at the end of the Silver Millennium that we all died. But that was many thousands of years ago." It hurt to talk so casually about the memories that where fresh within her. Always fresh, those sort of memories didn't go anywhere in a hurry. 

"Is that when you where turned?" Rei asked a frown on her delicate features. 

"We think Saturn survived, became infected and-" She shook her head at her own lack of knowledge but there was only so much that could be done. "The beginning is sketchy, it's guess's not truth. But Michiru and I came after... maybe five, six lifetimes after that." 

"This Saturn? She must know right?" Minako demanded, sitting on the edge of her seat, looking violent. 

"Saturn holds the castle that is the centre of the male quarter." Haruka replied, as if to explain the ineffectiveness or impossibility of trying to question the girl. 

"There's no castle in the centre of the city." Rei scoffed apparently offended. 

"Not that you can see. Not above ground, but a castle does not have to have turrets and battlements to be guarded and strong. It still has a throne and that's what matters." Haruka replied sharply. 

"Why does she hold it?" The blue haired Ami asked calmly, analytically taking in the information provided. 

"We don't know. We've not even seen her. Pluto we've had contact with, but it was brief and cryptic. She has not forgotten her duty's but they have become convoluted and now bad must happen for good to occur. I think." 

"She was very cryptic?" One of the girls asked and Haruka did little more then consider the impossibility of explain to anyone just how cryptic the Senshi of Time could be when she didn't want to reveal something. She did the logical thing therefore and moved the conversation forwards and beyond the question. 

"I've sent my mate to retrieve Usagi and the human." 

"Human?" Was the confused question. 

"The one that smells like her." Haruka pushed on. 

"No one smelt like her! We would have killed them." Rei, that was Rei snapping violence with ease. 

"I don't know his name, all I know is that her scent is fresh on him and it isn't anywhere else. But you where talking with him, in that arcade some time before I intercepted you, you must have noticed." She watched them carefully as she made the words form, wondering how they had missed something so obvious to her. 

"What?" Minako looked shocked. 

"Tall, dark hair. I did not see him properly, my mate followed him." 

"Ehh... Mamoru?" One of them asked tentatively. 

"Did he not smell like her to you?" 

"But." Ami tried to say. 

"Kind of I guess..." Rei muttered. 

"But he always has!" Minako snapped suddenly, her eyes ablaze her attention focused just like the other girls. Haruka knew protocol well enough though, Minako was in charge of the trope before her and Minako would do what had to be done to protect their Charge even if she didn't understand why. 

"Hmm..." Haruka murmured. "She must have made a claim on him much earlier then she realises. I do not know what his place is in this. But one does not receive and survive from wounds like his lightly." 

"Wounds?" 

"The one's on his neck? Did you also not notice those?" She was a little surprised that they hadn't scented the blood on him. 

"She bit him didn't she? I'll kill the ditz!" Rei jumped to her feet, eyes blazing with fire. 

"I don't believe you." Makoto growled dangerously. "Maybe you have Usa! Maybe this is some ploy-" 

"Do I smell like her? Is her scent anywhere near me? I've not even seen this girl." 

"Oh yeah? If your one of us which planet are you?" Makoto demanded. 

"Uranus." 

"And can you prove it?" Ami asked with a deadly voice, her eyes examining, scrutinizing. 

"As well as you can." Haruka shook her head, tired of the rounded questions. "How would I know this? How would I know anything about your ties, your powers if I was not a part of it." 

"You can be a part, that's fine, but what kind of a part you are is yet to be known." Minako interrupted icily watching still with perfect attention. 

"I'm not lying to you. And if you paused a moment to think it through you would realise there is no part of you that truly believes I am lying." 

The four girls looked to each other and automatically Haruka knew they where reaching for each other. She chose not to show them that she could join, that she was part of there exclusive group and instead let them come to their own decisions. 

It took time, there expressions changing flickering trying to decide on which decision to choose. But in the end, their need to protect their friend, to find answers so they could help her made them faster then they would have otherwise been and it was less then fifteen minutes before they turned back to her. There eyes when they locked on her where alert, weary but willing to listen. 

"We are the same. The part of us that connects us to the planets has protected us against the full change of the vampire species. We cannot nor will we ever be entirely their's but we are no longer human." Haruka told them solemnly, knowing they already knew that, knowing they would have figured it out long ago when they where turned. It occurred to her to ask how they had all been turned but in the end she did not want to know. It had happened and that was all she needed to know. 

"This happened to you? You needed to mate early?" 

"Michiru and I looked after each other. We had to, or we would be dead." Haruka went to say more when the door was flung open. 

All feelings of calm swept from the room in a tidal wave of fear. 

"Where is she?" Haruka demanded of her out of breath mate. The aqua haired girl shook her head once, leaning up against the door frame. "Where are they?" Haruka demanded harsher then before real fear making it into her system. This wasn't good and they all knew it. 

"Where is Usagi!" One of the girls cried, maybe more then one. Haruka was focused on only one thing. Michiru was out of breath but safe, the girl, Usagi she wasn't safe she wasn't where she should have been. 

A second, maybe two was all it took before Michiru answered and it was an answer none of them wanted to hear. 

"I found only blood, and Demando's scent." 

--------- 

Usagi stood alone. The only female allowed admittance in the castle's ancient battle grounds during the ceremony. By her side Demando stood, lording over the gathered men, keeping them in order. 

Her stomach knotted, bile in her throat but her eyes where dry. She was not going to cry because this was not over, she refused to accept this as an end. 

The men where looking her over, sizing up their opponents and the value she represented to them. Those that considered her worth the effort would battle in the arena for her body, for the right to take her through the mating ceremony, the right to bind her unwillingly to them forever. 

She didn't listen to what Demando had to say, nor the names that where called as men began stepping forwards. Her eyes didn't follow the blows and blood that where thrown about the marbled floor. All her thoughts cantered on what had brought her to this moment, what had made her travel the path to this room without even a word of discontent. 

Somewhere within the depths of this castle, perhaps somewhere else entirely, Mamoru was imprisoned. Mamoru who she hated, Mamoru who she couldn't remember a day without, Mamoru who made her blood pound in her veins like there was real life in them again, Mamoru who had fallen because of her. 

So she let it all wash over her, let the ceremony proceed without interruption. It would be over soon. The room cleared and the victor left to make his claim on her body and soul. Fear pounding within her. Fear for what would happen, fear for what she could not stop, fear for how it would all end. 

--------- 

Mamoru had woken hours before, or what felt like hours. There was no light in the room to judge time by, no movement beyond the iron door to judge the seconds or reality. All he had were his thoughts and they flew by at the speed of light, never settled, never sure. 

He had strained against his restraints. He had explored the room with hand and eye as much as was possible. It was cold, stone, and dank. There where chains on his wrists and ankles, and a wall as solid as a castles holding them in place. He had explored every link in the chains, trying to find a weakness, rust or ware that may have made them more susceptible to breakage then the others. But there was none, the chains felt new, fresh and entirely solid. 

So he sat against the stone wall, the damp seeping in through his clothes and sending shivers through his body. Then he tried to think but found himself instantly distracted. 

There was fear in his veins, pounding through like a warning signal, but it wasn't his. He had his own fear, but it was controlled, like always. This fear in him was familiar and unrelenting, and he had no control over it. 

He had felt it before, years before, and he had never expected it to return, especially not now. There where too many things to think about, too many needs to satisfy. He needed to save Usagi. That man, Demando, had taken her from him, had harmed her and being too weak and shocked he had done nothing to stop the demon until it was far beyond too late. 

Mamoru hated himself more at that moment then ever before. He should have done more, he knew he was capable of it, but for her he had not reacted fast enough. He knew the possessiveness he felt for her seemed abruptly new, but it did not matter. She had always been there, a part of his life that he relied on that he looked forwards to in some ways, and it made sense to be protective of things that where a part of you. 

He considered that, wondered what she would think of such an assessment and decided he didn't really care, because she had started this mess and it was her fault he felt like he would kill any creature that tried to hurt her, and die for her a thousand times over. 

A jolt of fear snapped through him, and he jumped to his feet. The intensity shocking him, the familiarity becoming more familiar. It wasn't the fear of a girl he didn't know like he had suspected it was at first, it was hers, Usagi's. 

Moments of time slipped together, he'd felt it before, it was the same and he knew it with shocking realisation. He acknowledged in horror he had overlooked everything that lay before his eyes and that the answers he had searched for had rested so neatly in his grasp. The particulars he didn't know. Why had she stopped? Why had she disappeared? What had happened? There where answers he couldn't know, but what he did know was that she was scared, this woman-child he was bound to, this creature he had made a claim to was afraid and in return he was petrified because she had not been scared for many years now. 

On reflex he dug down into his being drawing forth the strength of a world. A strength he had not summoned since last he felt such fear resonating through his soul. He felt it flood his veins, filling him with a near overwhelming sensation of insignificance and majesty blended so perfectly that there was no distinction. 

And with that strength as a part of his being he once more turned his attention to the chains that bound him, using muscles fuelled by inhuman power to strain against them. He felt them pull, felt thing stretch ever so slightly under his demanding attack, but they did not break, they did not bend or weaken. Franticly he kept trying, desperate to do everything he could to rescue her, to protect her, but knowing somehow in the back of his mind that he did not have the strength to break the bonds made to hold a vampire. 

--------- 

"He has her." Haruka stated in shocked horror. There was silence for only a few seconds as the realisation sunk into the minds of the girls. 

"His taken her to the castle." Michiru added, her thoughtful tone's miffed by the worry she could not conceal. 

"We have to get her back!" Minako stated and the three nods that accompanied her words proved there would be no dissention in the ranks of the group. 

"We can not." Michiru whispered. 

"Nobody asked you!" Makoto snapped with fierce anger. 

"No we have to." Haruka stated to her mate and the two women stared at each other, worry and concern so obvious, but so too was the determination in one's eyes and the fear in the others. 

"Where is she?" Minako demanded of the two women. There was silence to answer her as the two women continued to stare each other down. "Where damn it?!" Minako demanded her voice a shout that resonated through the room waking the two fighting women from each other. 

"You can not go." Michiru told them sternly. 

"Fuck you!" Rei attacked. "We do what we want. I don't care what you think you are, you can't tell us what to do." 

"I can not let you leave this building, it would only put more of you at risk." Michiru reiterated. 

"She's more important then them." Haruka interrupted harshly and the two women once again faced off. Only a second and Michiru's face softened into defeat. 

"We would give everything for her." Ami told the two women and when they faced her she knew they agreed though she wasn't sure how. 

"The tunnels." Haruka stated first, quickly her eyes calculating. "That's the way to go." 

"Where are these tunnels?" Minako demanded. 

"No." Haruka shook her head. "I'll lead the way." 

"We don't need outsiders." Makoto ground out. 

"She's our Princess to." Was all Michiru had to say to silence the protests. 


	10. Part Eight

**An Innocent's Violence**

by Kimra

**Part 8**

Demondo's laugh echoed through the hollowed chamber, his sharpened fangs flashing for any left watching. In the centre of the room, smears of blood and sweat across his thick body stood one man, another fallen at his feet.

"We have a victor." Demondo declared ceremoniously his eyes sweeping across the crowd. "Will any step forwards to overcome his victory?" There was a murmur from the crowd as some of the men weighed their odds.

Already there was a multitude of bleeding men standing about, those who had lost previous fights, they would not step forwards again, already defeated in this battle. But the ones who had not yet taken up the challenge of fighting for her, the ones not covered in battle marks could still call a challenge. But no man stepped forwards, none considered their chances high enough against the brute still poised in the centre of the room, blood running down his chin as he grinned with feral delight at his would be prize.

"A last call for the final challengers. Step forwards now or respect the outcome for eternity." No man moved, none even spoke and Demondo continued. "I declare the decision made, Kray step forwards to receive your mate."

It was not until those words where spoken by Demondo that Usagi forced herself to look upon the mess before her. Her eyes found the man who remained in the centre of the arena, the other men, unconscious or dead had been taken away somehow. She did not care, her eyes instead assessing the man who was to now take her through her first mating.

She felt the thick hands of Demondo's guards take a hold of her arms and propel her towards her chosen mate. Watched as his eyes grew darker with desire and her body shuddered in repulsion uncertainty making it's way to her thoughts at last.

She wanted to protect Mamoru, she wanted him to live, but there was no guarantee that he would survive. In fact she knew that he would probably not. No human ever learnt of the vampires and survived, it was fate and law combined.

The guards released her, and she felt them disappear from behind her but did not turn her eyes from the looming man before her. He was easily twice her size, a brutish smile fixed on his features as he looked her over, his interest and arousal clearly visible in his stance and expression.

Fear struck through her, she doubted she was the first to be afraid. Surely not the first to not want to be there, to pray for an escape. And here she was, stuck in the footsteps of an uncountable number before her. Every female of the vampire race who had faced the crisis she now found herself in.

He grabbed at her, and instinct won over any plans of submission that still lingered.

She struck out and the room broke into noise before he even hit the ground.

"Complete the ceremony Kray." Demondo's voice demanded from above the area with anger suddenly obvious.

She crashed back to reality, her decision made, it was now only a matter of trying to enforce it. She doubted her chance of survival but she would go down fighting.

"You fucken whore." Kray ground out as he raised himself from the ground, his body looming and muscles bunched, ready for attack. She backed away knowing she wouldn't be strong enough. "Or is this just how you play sweetheart?" A sick smile came to his lips and she looked around her in a frantic moment for an escape. But the room was still circled with the men whom it seemed stayed for the entire ceremony.

"Leave me alone." She demanded, hoping to prevail with words what he wasn't understanding from her actions.

He barked a laugh, so did the other men. And with reflex's she couldn't match he grabbed her, pulling her into the air so their faces where level. Her breaths where cut short, his fingers squeezing in around her throat. She gasped for a breath and he gave another laugh. He pulled her close to him, his mouth coming to her ear. "Don't tell me you don't want this sweetheart. We all know better."

She ignored the repulsion his words brought forwards but couldn't stop the scream from escaping her when he bit down into her shoulder. She tried to jerk away as her blood began to swim out of her, her own hands finding a hold around his neck and she squeezed as hard as she could but it was not enough.

"Leave me alone!" She gasped with what breath she had tears coming to her eyes.

"You can't fight it Usagi." Demondo growled from somewhere higher, but she couldn't think straight or see straight the blood leaving her too quickly. "Bite him back and finish it."

"I don't want this!" She howled feeling the violation of teeth in her flesh, and hating it. People where murmuring, she should have consented by now, they all knew it so did she. Instead she was thinking about Mamoru, and with that final desperate thought she lost her grip on any semblance of control.

She let out a growl, harsher then anything she had ever voiced and her teeth bit into the man before hers ear. "I'll kill you." She grit out before she wrenched back, ripping half his ear off. He released her to let out a sound of pain, she didn't care. Falling into a battle position ready for his attack.

She launched herself before the man could recover, her teeth landing into his flesh by his neck but she did not drink, she did not care. So instead her hands took hold of his face twisting his head around with what strength she could conjure.

If she'd been thinking she would never have tried such a move, but she was far beyond thinking and it never crossed her mind when his head moved below her hold and the bones of his neck broke with an audible snap that anything was out of place.

She heard the order of another man, too gone to even recognise who gave the order but the order itself she understood. "Kill her!" Rang through the chamber, "Kill her now!" and all hell broke loose.

Demando breathed heavily as he stared down at the man before him. He was not happy, that was not uncommon, but he was in a rage, and that was uncommon.

"Who are you?" He demanded, staring at the figure of a human before him.

Mamoru let out a contemptuous laugh. "Go to hell." Was all he replied.

In an instant he was in the air, the chains stretched to their limit as Demando's purple eyes stared into him murderously. "Tell me who you are mortal!"

Mamoru strained against the hold, unable to breath in the death lock the man held his throat in. "Go to hell." He managed feeling a surge of pride manage to fly through him. Demando's eyes flashed a brilliant shade then calmed.

"She wont mate. It's strange that she could overcome the urge to mate." He began a calmer voice, but these words made Mamoru freeze with fear. "Doesn't matter of course I've left them to kill her."

Mamoru surged forwards against the chains but they held him. He reached for more strength but it wasn't enough, the chains refused to break and his fingers never quite reached the disgusting man before him.

"Just like I will you." Demando lent forwards. "But you know something, and I want to know what that is." The expression on his face became hard. "How does she refuse to mate?"

"How would I know?" Mamoru snapped back knowing that even if he had the answer he would never share it.

"Oh but you know, and I want to hear it. We can't have another like her after all, it would not bode well for anyone."

"Your just upset because you can't control everyone." Mamoru spat.

The next moment pain shot through him and he realised there was a blade protruding from his stomach.

"I have an eternity to play this game, you only have a lifetime. But I don't mind, I can make a life last a long long time and none of that time will be pleasant." Demondo ground out his teeth flashing in rage.

Usagi was fighting. Fighting and fighting against anything that came near. Her mind wasn't with her, pushed aside in it's uselessness. She was fighting for her life, for everything, for herself and she would not fall because failure meant an end to everything she had ever believed in.

She had killed her family when the creature turned her. She had gone home and dreamt of blood, then like a zombie she had destroyed them all. She wasn't sure why, or how it had happened just that she watched it, trapped inside herself as she drank from and destroyed the people who deserved so much more. She had seen the fear and confusion in their eyes before they faded into death. That hadn't been the end.

Her scouts had accepted her immediately, responding to her desperation they had come for battle and found only what was left of a massacre. They tried to comfort her and she turned on them as well. They fought her. Of course they did, warriors to the end, they fought back. But guardians to the end they could not bring themselves to harm her, and she won. But not completely.

Her family lay dead her friends teetered on the edge of death. She had cried then, thick streams of tears for something she hadn't been able to stop. She had nearly given up, lost in the desperation of uncontrolled inevitability.

Ami had said it first, like a prayer, the blue haired girl had reached out with blood soaked fingers and stroked her hair. "Let me stay with you, forever." And after the others asked the same.

And she never refused, because she would never refuse her scouts anything. She mimicked the monster who had taken her. Redid upon her friends the violation he had preformed on her. Forced blood down their throats and took more of their own, as if their bodies had anything left to offer.

It never broke her, instead of an end it had kept her going. With her friends by her side she could fight forever, keep going for eternity. Personal adversity held no grounds against the life bonds they had formed. They had been warriors, trained to accept lose and they knew to move on was essential. It had not been the end.

But here, this battle, she knew it like she knew when the moon would rise and fall, if she lost this, it would be the end. If she failed to win, her friends would follow in their own time, they would all be destroyed and she could not let it happen, would never allow it.

A blow from behind threw her forwards against the hard marble surface. Blood tasted in her mouth, her own leaking from her body from injuries she didn't have the mind to acknowledge. Someone, one of the creatures pinned her and she fought against it with all her strength, but she was only as strong as they and battle trained instincts had been all that kept her going to that moment.

Her heart constricted, her fighting was useless, and she had killed Mamoru with her defiance. "No." She demanded of herself, she would not let defeat rule her. Her mind rebelled with her words and she reached inside herself for something she hadn't touched in three years, a power that lay dormant but not forgotten in her altered body.

Thick fingers curled around her head, men chanting in the background ready for the blood that would spill. She struggled against, managed, she knew not how, to dislodge the man who had pinned her and roll to her feet.

Standing her eyes jumped about the scene, already three men moving in on her. She had killed some, she was sure of it, killed them before they realised she was a real threat. Now they where taking no chances, she was a liability and they would destroy her.

She reached within the magic of a disregarded life, felt gold touch her fingers and the words long unuttered slip from her mouth in a desperate prayer of salvation.

Nobody heard the words, she barely acknowledge them herself because as the transformation of one self to another began her body was overrun with pain and fire.

Best of luck with everything and for those who where concerned I'm feeling much better now. Thanks all.

Kimra


	11. Part Nine

**An Innocent's Violence**

by Kimra

**Part 9**

They had discussed it rarely between themselves, the sensation of transforming since they had been turned. It had been decided though that it felt as if their bodies where fighting themselves. It was painful, the sort of pain that feels like dieing all over again, and as they had gone through that process they had a very good comparison to work with.

But this time was different. This time no amount of personal aversion to pain could outweigh the desperation of the situation. None of them had hesitated in adding their powers to their defences as they followed the elder women into the centre of the male domain.

It hurt, no doubt, they could all feel it, but they t that feeling linger, ignoring the pain that throbbed through their bodies because Usagi, they had to get to her, had to save her. It was their duty to forever protect what they loved the most. So with bitter determination they prevailed and they forged onwards. With the speed of vampire and warrior combined the ran. Alert and ready to destroy.

They travelled darkened tunnels, the smell of musk think in the air, puddles under their feet splashing as they ran and not a breath of life but for their own. Their hearts pounded in their chests in unified fear, their minds furiously mapping, remembering, as they went and their body's, coiled and ready for action ready to do what had to be done.

Nothing but death would stand in their way, and not even that, they where determined would hold them back for long.

What the women leading them thought or felt they wasted no time guessing upon. All that mattered was the path and it's destination. Though there was no denying the kinship they shared, dressed the same as they where, coursing with the same power and both women and girls seeking the same goal.

Silence was all that echoed through the tunnels as they ran, not even their feet upon the ground with each stride released a noise, until a single voice came forth from the darkness halting them in their tracks. "It is now." Echoed though the silence.

Defences came to the fore, all six females ready for an attack without even a word to each other. Ready to fight for the hearts that pounded so furiously within their chests.

What came to them, what drew out from the shadows before them was a woman one like them but not. Dressed in their uniform, white and black, purple and green but older, and in her eyes lay an endless sadness they could feel in their own bones as they watched her. "And I have been waiting."

"Pluto." Michiru spoke with only concern in her voice, calm but ready.

"Where is Usagi?" Minako demanded. They didn't have time for this, to meet new people, to learn about their fated gifts. Other things mattered far too much.

"Your princess?" It seemed a question, though none of them could be sure. "She fights beyond these doors." And she gestured behind her into the darkness, light creeping into the scene behind her and they could see the double doors only a few meters before them.

Minako moved first, pushing past the older women, the other three, Makoto, Ami and Rei where less then a breath behind her. Their leader, in oranges and gold's pushed forwards, throwing the double doors open and revealing the fray.

Not one of the four needed to think when they found their Princess, their friend and companion surrounded, falling, bleeding and outnumbered. They threw themselves into the battle will, strength and love making them stronger then anything these men had ever come across before.

Haruka watched for only a few seconds, watched as the Princess was freed from immediate attack and her protectors took up the battle but her nerves where not as raw and she was not as young so she turned the woman they had seen only once in so many life times.

"And what of your Princess, Setsuna?" Was the probing question. They had known each other in another life, known the buttons to push the words to say and the tones that suggested something else was happening.

"She lays in wake." The green haired woman replied, eyes sad and thoughtful. A flash though, of courage and remembrance or maybe hope shot through her garnet eyes and then a soft smile came to the Guardian of Times lips. "But her slumber is nearly over."

There was a pause and Haruka found her eyes drawn to the battle so close to them. She wondered if Pluto was implying she should not enter, but watching these girls struggle she wanted nothing more then to help them. A glance at her mate and she knew the feeling was shared.

"You must go, they need you." Was all Setsuna had to say for the two women to throw themselves into the battle. Their powers drawing out of pained bodies, their intentions clear. They would help win this war.

Pluto was calm.

She had lived through many life times for this day, watched horror's and beauty's alike with little concern but today the balance would be returned and her sister's, and her princess would be reborn without the darkness that hung over them.

She walked with easy grace through the carnage of the room. Seeing the dead and stepping over them, caring not for the blood or dust on her shoe's. Her destination was fixed, her purpose clear and when she came to the Princess breathing now she was not alone, Pluto stopped.

She knelt before the woman-child and met the calm crystallin blue eyes of her Princess.

"In the dungeons." She began, careful to keep those confused blue eyes fixed on her. "The Vampire Ruler Demando has gone to kill your Prince, to kill your Love, Mamoru."

The girl drew in a breath, ragged and broken her eyes suddenly afraid. Tears in their corners.

"I'll take you to them." Setsuna pushed, taking the girls hands gently and drawing her up.

Around them fighting continued, vampires falling the magic of the ancient worlds pulsing, flashing and charring through their ranks. Pluto cared nothing for that and distracted, neither did Usagi.

"Take me." Usagi begged, her voice cracking, blood sliding down her chin from her mouth. There was nothing beautiful about what lay before her but Pluto felt her heart constrict. There was so much innocence and beauty in her Princess still. "Please."

"I will. I am." Was all Pluto said and before any of the girls or women knew what was happening, while they fought the battle to keep the monsters at bay Pluto took their Princess away from them and lead her down a darker path.

Nothing was making sense. She had been fighting, she could barely remember how, but she had been fighting. There had been blood and screams and things she couldn't describe. Then she'd done it, drawn forth powers untouched for three years. She was not Sailor Moon the Champion of Justice, she was a vile mesh of vampire, human and whatever that magical part of her was called. So it hurt. Of course it did. It hurt to breath, to fight, but survival was something she was trained for and she had done it. Drawn out magic unused and destroyed whatever came at her.

Then they had come, her family, what was left of it. Minako, Rei, Ami and Makoto, but with them had been strangers. She'd fallen when she didn't have to fight anymore, when her friends took the battle from her hands. She had breathed and watched. Two women she didn't know where fighting with her friends but she didn't move, she needed to breath, needed to grasp in what she could of that precious air because her lungs where hurting, her body was hurting, her soul was screaming.

Then it had happened. Another women had come to her, a Sailor Scout, beautiful and mystic and somehow familiar just like the other two. And she'd mentioned him, and no thought could be spared for anything else after that, only him, she was alive and now she needed to save him. If she could.

The woman leading her had disappeared along the way, Usagi was following something different, something more powerful. Her soul was crying, screaming and it was dragging it was pulling her where it needed to go. Taking her to what it needed saving.

She came through the door knowing he'd be on the other side, rammed into Demando without a thought to personal safety. He hit the ground below her and she swung at him.

He twisted below her, unsettled her and was on his feet looking controlled and mildly amused as he brushed some dirt off his jacket.

Mamoru, he was saying something to her, she ignored it, couldn't have focused on it if she tried. She needed to stop this man before her, needed to protect herself as much as her heart.

She made an attack, forgetting magic in the face of adrenaline. He took the hit and offered once back, she didn't flinch from it though instead landed another blow in his face. Blood splashed from his nose, spraying her clothes and she struck again.

People where coming, she didn't know who, but they where coming.

She stuck again, and he fell back against the wall, another blow came at her and she dodged it slamming her fist into his chest and feeling things break below her palm.

Demando gasped, and she went to strike again.

"No!" Was cried and before the blow could land Usagi found her fist in the hold of a delicate glove covered hand. "You will kill him." The aqua haired woman pleaded, her eyes full of concern.

"I've killed before." Usagi bit out, ready to kill again. Her body trembled for it. He had threatened her, threatened her own. Her love, he had threatened her very heart!

"To survive," The woman insisted, "but never, never like this." She pushed. "Never for anger."

Usagi felt herself shudder and wondered if it was true. Her family, she had killed them, but she couldn't control it. And after that? They had only killed to eat, all of them. So maybe they had enjoyed it, but that was part of it, it was something they couldn't deny and wouldn't.

But she wanted him dead, she wanted to keep him away from her friends, her sisters because could hurt them. Her fist tightened, muscles tensing but she didn't swing her fist again. Then slowly, tears running down her checks she let him go, his body sliding to the floor and grin on his broken lips as he stared up at her.

And Usagi let it go, the tension of battle leaving her as she looked away from the waste of life before her.

"Look to your prince," an ancient voice spoke "he is bleeding."

Usagi barely looked at the green haired woman before her eyes where on Mamoru, he wasn't standing, but he was watching the intensity of his eyes sparking a response in her she wouldn't deny.

"Endymion!" She cried without thought and was by his side instantly all thoughts of anger lost to her concern. "Are you okay?" She tried, knowing it was stupid because there wouldn't be so much blood about him if he where. "I'm so sorry." She whispered pushing back his hair and looking into his eyes. She was trying to decide what to fix, what to heal but her head was lost within his stare. But he needed healing, his wounds where not shallow or small.

He managed a smile to her, but she could see it was hurting him and immediately soothed it away with gentle fingers. What happened behind her she cared not, so long as he was safe, so long as she was. More people came in, she felt that more then anything else, her bound sisters had come to the room.

"I hurt a bit." He grumbled feebly because she already knew.

"I'll help you." She whispered and bit into her own finger, letting the blood of her body slide out into the first wound she saw, the cut across his shoulder. She watched it drip out of her, slow but steady and waited. Seconds ticked by, minutes close behind.

"Why isn't it working?" Filtered through her hearing and she too wondered why his wounds hadn't begun to heal.

"It's not working." She managed, and then rather frantic she bit harder into her hand letting more blood out, trying to wash away his wounds with the power inside her veins. "Why isn't it working?" She demanded, her eyes coming to land on a figure she hadn't seen for so many years. "Mercury?" She tried, pleading for an answer.

But she didn't need to ask, even if they hadn't used their forms since close to the beginning they would never forget their places within them. Ami was typing on her computer, her eyes furrowed as she did and Usagi waited in silence, her hands soothing Mamoru trying to push his pain away solely with her self-will.

"It's gone." Ami whispered her eyes raising from the computers screen.

"What's gone?" Usagi demanded her voice shaking. If she had come so far, this far and now she couldn't even fix him.

"You can't-" Ami began.

"What's done?" Usagi demanded tears collecting in her eyes.

"The magic- the curse. It's gone Usagi! You can't heal him with blood."

And it made sense to anyone who hadn't already understood. Usagi felt her heart shatter, not from horror or distress or anything so morbid, but it couldn't hold everything it needed to at that moment.

"Heal him with your magic Usagi. Heal him with the moon." Ami finalised and the tears that had been in Usagi's eyes became something less desperate and all together beautiful.

"It's gone." She whispered, her voice trembling with the kind of happiness she hadn't felt for such a long time. She curled herself against Mamoru, feeling him wince and offered only the slightest apology before her lips where on his, and her magic worked passed her into him.

She heard chains break, knew he was free when he took a hold of her and knew as she always had before when he was healed, when there was nothing left to fix. But she kept kissing him, letting the moment flood her, too overwhelmed to do anything but accept it.

He broke from her first with a chuckle.

"Sailor Moon ha?"

"Mamoru-baka!" She cried annoyed at him for taking all the tension out of the air with that twinkle in his eyes and that teasing tone in his voice.

"Your beautiful, you know that right?" He reached to her face and pushed silver hair from her face.

"Oh gods." She let another wave of emotion overtake her and she was in his hold again, not caring that all of them, all these women where watching her. "I thought we where gone forever. I thought I'd lost you." She cried for a while, let the tears take her where they would, relief and sorrow mixed together in such a heady mix nothing but his arms around her could be recognised.

"Not a chance Odango." He replied when she began to calm. "I've got years of fighting with you to do before that happens."

She laughed despite herself and she felt below her hold as his body relaxed.

"It would be best if you left now." That ancient voice interrupted and Usagi looked up at the green haired woman. "It's time to go." She added a smile on her lips.

"Pluto?" Usagi checked and the woman nodded. She looked then at the scene before her and she recognised the women gathered. Neptune and Uranus where near Pluto and behind the three was Demando, bleeding and glaring, but silent.

"It's time to leave Princess. Your Prince will need rest soon, and so will you."

Usagi nodded, already she felt tired, like the magic had taken it out of her but she stayed a minute longer watching the Guardian of Time.

"Why?" She tested carefully, not really understanding what was happening.

"The crystal you carry can heal anything. It just needed a chance." Pluto offered a smile and Usagi realised that she could feel it from her four greatest friends through their link, but also in the air around them the blood curse was gone. "Now go." Pluto commanded, and Usagi wasn't going to fight, didn't care and was all to happy to leave.

She rose from the ground, Mamoru right behind her their hands tangled together and she lead him from the room, and her sisters followed leaving only Pluto, Neptune and Uranus guarding over a broken King.

"Should we leave them?" Rei asked from the back, but nobody really answered, just kept walking.

It was in silence that they waited. In silence that they listened. Footsteps faded away, the youngest of their kind leading their Princess home. Though the three did not relax because nothing was over.

Then from the shadows at the back of the room, unobserved by any stepped a small girl a uniform of white on her body, a weapon of destruction in her hands.

"You waste your time whores. Your not going to kill me." Demando spat from the ground. "I know all of you, I know what your capable off, and you can't do this."

Haruka was first to respond, yanking him to his feet by his collar and holding him from the ground. Michiru watching from the sides.

"Did you think-" the girl began her voice soft "-we would let her kill you, let you take her innocence?"

Haruka let him go, throwing him to the centre of the room before the girls feet.

The girl stopped her glowing eyes falling to his face. "I am Destruction," she whispered "and it is your time Demando."

Best of luck with everything and for those who where concerned I'm feeling much better now. Thanks all.

Kimra


	12. Epilogue

An Innocent's Violence

By Kimra

Epilogue

o o

dbooooooodb

o o

Usagi kissed him harder, her lips seeking out whatever he was willing to give. They had gone to his apartment, all of them, but the scouts had all made their excuses rather quickly. Even elated at the strange freedom they had never expected, they all still knew when Usagi wanted to be alone.

She left his lips, kissed his cheek, his ear and then the pulse at his throat. And for the first time in a long time it held no thrall but for the fluttering beat she could feel below her sensitive lips.

"Gods." She whispered against that feel, and his hands pulled her tighter against his body letting her feel every toned muscle there. She rumbled in pleasure, unable to stop the noise from escaping her and even with her face tucked into the crook of his neck, her lips soothing over old wounds she had given him she could tell he was smiling at her.

They had both stumbled around for a bit once alone, trying to find their middle ground and she had eventually given up on the middle ground. Just because she didn't want his blood now, didn't mean she had gotten over wanting him. So she'd jumped him, rather unlady like but she didn't care, she needed a reward after the last three years. And he had responded, just like her, as if he had been waiting for it to happen.

She nipped him lightly and felt him shudder beneath her, a grin came to her lips. "You think I might bite?" She teased and pushed her palms against his chest raising herself to look down into his dark blue eyes.

They had fumbled, felt and explored and ended up on the couch though she didn't know how. She didn't mind either, and from his every reaction to her he didn't either. From there on it had been kisses and touches and testing the limits like they hadn't the last time they had been in this position.

"I'm sure you've done worse before." He teased back, a playful look in his eyes but her adore calmed at the words none the less.

"I'm sorry." She told him earnestly and saw the regret flash in his eyes. It wasn't regret at her words, but at the serious tome she had suddenly adopted, he knew he had brought the reality back to the moment without even trying. "I am." She pushed the words, trying to make him understand.

"I know." He soothed, his hands brushing carefully, soothingly, against her back. She pulled away further, pushing out of the grip he tripped to maintain on her waist and left his lap pacing away from the lounge where they had been.

Behind her he sat up, watching her fidgeted movements with intense concentration.

"The things I did." She whispered and her arms came up without invitation, wrapping around her now cold arms. She was still in their dress, white once but drowned in blood now and her bare arms felt cold against the chill of memory.

He was coming closer to her, she didn't want it but couldn't fight it, waiting out the fate that awaited her. His hands closed around her own, then slid around her body pulling it back against his.

"To survive." He fortified.

She shook her head. "Selfish survival." She bit out.

"No." He countered voice hard and without warning he had spun her around and was staring down into her eyes his own full of intense agony she didn't want to see. "You have never been selfish Usagi."

"And Serenity?" She countered, knowing like she should exactly how selfish her past had been.

"Not her either." He replied tightly. "She was the most selfless creature I had ever met."

"Mamoru." Usagi replied, knowing he was hardly in the room his eyes glazed as reawaken memories worked into his mind. "She- I caused the destruction of a universe for love."

He met her eyes, saw pain, but not the pain of a forgotten princess. He was seeing the pain of a girl who had been through an unexplainable ordeal, a girl who should never have seen the darker side of the world.

"You followed your nature, then as now Usagi. As Serenity you loved, fate chose to make that love the catalyst of destruction, but it was not your choices in that life that ruined anything. And as Usagi? As a young girl cursed by a monster? You killed to survive, you did what the nature of the vampire in you required. Nobody can be faulted for living."

She curled herself against him, hiding her tears but he could feel them his heart as they slid past her defences and her shaking body latched to his own gave it all away. "At the time it meant nothing," she whispered into her sanctuary "all those people, just another meal, just another extension on my own life. I've put more thought into milkshakes. But now I think about it-"

"Now your not overwhelmed by a cursed demon?"

"I don't know what I'm doing Mamoru! I don't even know why I'm telling you!" She stepped back and stared into his eyes demanding answers from him.

He took a breath, knowing this had to be fixed or nothing would ever work again in his or her life. "Did you ever kill for fun?"

"It was fun, killing, sometimes." She seemed so small as she looked at the ground, her brows furrowed as she tried to remember over the years.

He kept pushing. "That was the nature of the beast Usagi. Did you ever kill for anger?"

Her eyes came to him, then slid down his bare shoulders to the healed wound on his shoulder, the one she had given him that first time. He didn't flinch as she reached up and touched the area, complete trust held him still and she when she met his eyes he saw the regret had returned.

"I tried to kill you." She whispered.

"Really?" He was a little amused by this but unwilling to show her, with all the memories of past lives intact he found it difficult to believe that even overwhelmed by darkness she would ever take his life.

"The only reason I stopped was because you stopped me!" There where tears in her eyes, shocked and appalled and so many other things.

"Do you want to kill me now?" He pushed not letting her dwell.

"What?" she backed shocked by the question "No!" She cried it, a look of horrified betrayal in her eyes and he caught her before she could escape.

"Didn't think so." He murmured against her head as he kept her tight in his grip. She tried to struggle out but here, now, he was strong enough to hold her and she wasn't fighting with all her strength. "I don't think you would have killed me. Although then I admit I was a little scared out of my mind."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I believe in you Usagi, it might have taken you to the last moment but I think you would have stopped yourself."

"That's stupid Mamoru." She snapped, her frown in place but she wasn't fighting any more only her tone implied rebellion.

"I always wanted to hate you, when we first met especially, but I never could, not completely. It's just not in my nature. Just like it's not in yours to kill without reason." He pushed her back a little so he could see her eyes, wondering if he was making any sense to her.

"None of this makes sense." She whispered, eyes so earnest he found his own answer right there.

"When you where Serenity, if a vampire was brought before you would you have punished it for living the only way it could?" He stroked her check lightly watching her think the answer over but knowing all the time what it would be.

"I would have tried to help it. A creature can no be punished for surviving the only way it can."

He prepared for her next reaction as "Do you set yourself so high above your people, even your friends that a different set of standards should apply to you then to them?"

"No!" she gasped looking offended and he grinned at her.

"So what's the problem?" He asked as plainly as he could and then waited, waited as she sorted the logic out in her own head, put the pieces together and tried to look at it from an impartial view. Admittedly he was prejudice, remembering a lifetime of loving the girl in his arms and every emotion she had pulled out of him in this lifetime had a habit of doing that though.

"Your never going to let me feel bad about myself are you?" She demanded anger in her voice but he could see the spark in her eyes again. Relief swamped him and without thinking he was kissing her again. She responded, letting her hands take hold of him once more, the passion of before once more in her movements, the demand to be together swamping them but Mamoru kept it as short as his body would let him, untangling himself from her with a cheeky smile and watching her pout as if she didn't know there was still talking that needed to happen.

"Never." He replied, hoping he could do that, spend all his time making her feel like the goddess she was.

"I know it's stupid," she began, looking embarrassed "but I love you."

"That's stupid?" He asked with incredulity thick in his voice.

"That's not what I mean!" She snapped and he looked contrite but also understanding. "We've been fighting, and fighting and now suddenly I'm telling you I love you? That's what must sound stupid. Not that I love you! Who could help themselves?" The flattery was delivered with her own wicked smile which he appreciated?

"It's not just these memories." She whispered, desperation in her tone and a tap to her head which he understood all too well. Since the moment he had known, realised and amalgamated all he knew about her a new life had opened to him, a new group of memories. A life lived thousands of years before when he had called her Serenity, but that wasn't what had him kissing her back with all his passion. Usagi had always done that too him, brought out the emotion in him, and life and death situations had a way of pointing out the truth even if it had been buried before. He waited though, let her talk. "Mamoru, if it had been the other way around- if you'd been a vampire and I a human I still would have wanted to kiss you. When it happened, when it came to it nothing would have stood between that moment, no loyalties, no life, no lies nothing. Because in my heart deep down inside that's what I'd always wanted to do." She was blushing despite the strength of her speech.

"Usagi." He interrupted her and released her to rub a hand across his face trying to think of how to reply to this. Oh he knew, he understood but finding the right words had never been his greatest gift. "I know." He tired to explain, his eyes holding her own trying to convey the sincerity of his words. "Listen to me Usagi. I've been fighting with you so long it's hard to think I'd understand but I do. And it's not just these memories, I get that, it's not just the moment having drawn us in. If it had been any other way I still would have fallen straight into your trap."

Wrong words, she looked horrified. "I didn't mean to trap you." She whispered tears in her eyes and he tilted her head up a bemused smile on his lips.

"It's a figure of speech." He replied and then tested the waters a quick kiss on her nose, another on her lips, one below her chin and then up to her forehead, he really was enjoy this. "But I get it. I do. Because I love you as well, and it's nothing but you that made that happen."

"Are we going too fast?" She tested and he saw real fear in her eyes.

"You want to slow down? You're the one who jumped me ten minutes ago!" He was trying to make it light, she didn't go with the flow.

"I didn't mean that-" She blushed a bit. "I mean, how do we know we love each other, how do we know it's not a lie?"

"I can't answer that one for you sweet, that ones all yours. But for me? There isn't really another answer. And trust me, if I'd been the vampire I don't think any of this would have taken as long as it took you."

"I had friends holding me back." She blushed harder and he grinned at that.

"Besides, this was more fun, less clichéd." He mumbled thoughtfully his hands on her waist again his eyes darkening with distracting thoughts.

"What?" She met his eyes in surprise and he was all grins.

"Oh come on. Sexy male vampire meets hot innocent little girl? Half your manga collection's probably got that story line." He was tracing patterns on her back, wishing he could touch skin but contenting himself for the time being. "I like this one better." He thought about the times she'd kissed him, the times she'd initiated contact between them when he would have been to scared to ever try something like that. He did love her, he knew it, had probably known it without admitting it for a long time, so he would never have risked it.

"I burnt all the manga with vampires I owned. I just couldn't look at them." She blew out a breath of disgust. "Ami tried to research them, but they where crap, all about cross's and stuff."

"You burnt manga? Dear lords." Mamoru did a little dramatic motion pretending to faint.

"Baka, now I know I don't love you." She muttered and his grin returned his eyes capturing hers.

"Don't say that I might have to make you change your mind." He was watching her carefully a challenge in his eyes and she threw all caution to the wind because in her heart, somehow, despite it all, she knew this was right, he was right.

"I'd like to see you try." She challenged right back and she didn't think she'd ever seen him so happy.

"Think you can scare me?" He pulled her hard against his body, eyes locked on hers. "I had you try and kill me, then you threw up blood all through my bathroom, tried to have your way with me and pulled me into some cursed vampire rituals I knew nothing about. Your not about to scare me now."

"Sorry?" she peeped, but she had a smile on the corner of her lips and when he kissed her all pretence's flew out the window.

She wound her arms around his neck, kept the tension between their bodies and pushed the kiss harder. His hands slid up her back and into her hair. She kept kissing, enjoying the feeling, knowing she loved him despite all concerns, and that everything would be okay because he wouldn't let it be any other way.

o o

dbooooooodb

dbooooooodb

o o

That's it people! The end. Hope your all happy with it, hope it wasn't a disapointment and hope anyone who liked the beginning liked it all the way through. Oh a quick note, I was not trying to insult any "Mamoru is a vampire and fall's for Usagi stories". Love them all to pieces it's just a major reason I wrote this story is because I love role reversal. Yeah lame but go figure I am lame! Yeah for us lamoids! (You know it's you, your reading Sailor Moon fan fiction afterall hee hee… kidding).

Wow I'm aiming to insult everyone today it seems (nah, if that where the case I'd write another one of those letters that ffn got really pissy at me for. Wankers. cough oh yeah, sorry the authors note. I feel having spent how ever long writing this story I'm entitled to a rant, no one will read it (yeah for no one) but I'm writing it anyway. If you feel having spent so long reading you should be free to write me a rant go for it, I'll read it and if I get my assignments done I'll even reply but anyone who knows me knows I'm horrible at replying (sorry guys I love you all I just get blocks).

Anyway, along with writing a role reversal story I also wanted to try and combine the mythology of the vampire (skewed as I saw fit) with that of Sailor Moon. I love the Sailor Moon mythology and never like to neglect it. I think it's fun to take these sort of ideas and mesh them, no matter how badly I do it.

Did I leave anything unexplained in this story? I'm going to be blunt, it probably made no sense, the whole 'oh we've been scouts all along' thing probably just stuffed what ever anyone liked about it. I mean it was always there but I keep trying to be subtle and it ends up not being there at all.

Hmm… no more downers for me I think. Right right. The point. I'm glad you all read it, I loved writing it (at times) and I'm sorry to all those patient people who I kept lying to about when I'd update. Been so busy, I liked it better when I was working 9-5, somehow that was easier to write then, but Uni just stuffs with my timetable.

As for my other works? I'm struggling to finish everything I've posted (I guess that's the problem with being a review junky you just keep posting even when your in the middle of a thousand things). You'll be glad to know I haven't posted every half done story I've put together (there are lots of them) and I intend to finish the stories currently going before moving on.

Mostly, though sadly, Sailor Moons on the back bench. Trying to fix up my own original work for publication is a bugger (no no-one wants to publish it I'm just doing it on my own) and uni is a killer even though my social life is equal to that of well… none. Hmm I'm whining. Sorry all, I'm in the talk mood and no one's sent me any e-mails recently.

Okay, here's the end of it.


End file.
